THE MAN FROM GEBELEIN

An auroch bull

and a wild goat

on your skin,

made with soot

by a hand

as dead as yours.

The sand dried you,

drew out moisture.

Preserved you,

you who were stabbed

in the back by a hand

as dead as yours.

Time was the stars

running through the night sky,

rising and falling;

time was dynasties

and armies, conquerors

and liberators

blown like sand in the

desert wind. Time

was the whisper

of sand grains,

time was the

sound of small feet

in tunnels under

the shimmering rocks.

The sun rose

and the sun set

and the desert

and the green

fought, and

you, you were there,

under the sand,

stabbed by a hand

as dead as yours,

with an auroch bull

and a wild goat

on your skin,

drawn by a hand

as dead as yours.

03.03.2018