Beating his lead


Beating his lead with the blunt 
end of his axe, flattening it
in order to forget that he is

a child of death who wants to weight 

his net. Until it is suddenly
done and the one who did not disappear
stands in my room, taking me
in; still lying whether I am,

and how. Just as you might ask
a fisherman returning with nothing:
So where's the fish? And for him to reply,
without resentment, without envy:
The fish--it's in the sea.
Credit

From Against the Forgetting by Hans Faverey. Copyright © 2004 by Francis R. Jones and Lela Zečković-Faverey. Reprinted by permission of New Directions. All rights reserved.