- I’ll write.
- Will you bring back prayers for me?
- I’ll write everyday.
- Yes, but will you bring back some bells too?
- Keep an eye on the mail. You tend to forget.
- You won’t bring back prayers it seems. Will you bring back letters then?
- I will send letters!
- Oh. Do send some prayers too. And silver bells.
- I will bring your bells, I promise I will.
- Small bells, but pure silver. They must tinkle sweetly, for they must compensate for everything I miss.
- Anything else?
- Can I send letters too?
On nights when the chorus puts an end to silence,
and their song unfolds on her wooden desk
she writes a thousand letters.
trickling into the hands of strangers…
‘Bring back for keepsake
the muted prayers of the monastery
and the mist-like swirling colours
of the snow drenched hills.
Colours that would fill my palette…
for in splattered strokes your portrait stands-
unfinished.’
and remembering prayers,
nights of playing out desires-
the desire of clear voices and ink,
she writes a thousand letters.
losing themselves in the yawning strangeness
of strange men in distant cities…
***