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It hurts but I keep my mouth shut
because they might hear me.
Don’t let it come out. Then they left and I slept
a bit. Silence. I hear her in there. She wants
to get out. Then again
silence.
Narrator, goes and stops him. Train, like a heart beating
inside the bridge, we wait, it’s gone, now the women, in their
turn or nearly so.
A dog had come up outside the door.
Scratches and wants to come in
a little light in the window
but it is still early.
Out on the street
nobody yet. Let’s go in and prepare. Fire.
They like it. But they will say nothing.
They will sit at the table
like always. They will eat huddled
over their plates, silent.
Last year he was holding a stone
some papers he was wiping
his lips all the time there was
something wrong with his lips