nextpoems 2006 Poem index Home

Poetry - 2004 - Lloyd Godman

Indicia -: with assistance from Tess Edwards work untitled 2 1997-98

(When you read this piece, imagine the italic liturgical text,

the fragments Tess Edwards did not obscure with her marks,

sung as a rhythmical echoed chant behind the piece.)

-envers.. moi .. non Dieu -

once sounds echoed back from the ceiling

bounced off the walls, the naïve faces

-pauvre enfant de tout malheur-

as the next sound issued forth the last ringing note

ricocheted from surface to surface in death

-ma force, mon Dieu,-

whose hand last held this tiny book?

and the hands before that back to the bright new page?

-donc suis triste et inquiet-

whose voice once reached for a heaven?

whose voice reaches for it now?

has song rejoicing - covered with the texture of dust -

vanished in the anguish of silence?

- ila lumier et al foi -

are there still traces between the layers of time

embedded past codes in the camouflage of crease, folds and tears

wet tears once spun like mirrors hidden from prying eyes

falling with the ancient sounds of past hymns

-m'attirent vers vous -

absorbing into dry open pages, thick with uncertain sweat

what suffering has sang this song before

-Vous chanter, o mon -

the trauma of a sadness, a sickness, a death

stains now part covered with a makers mark

-donc suis-je triste et inquiet-

surface holds the imprint of affliction the watermark of life

I am beyond the obscuring clouds,

I have past this troubled rain I have left my marks and past on.

© Lloyd Godman