Things in Themselves
With apologies to Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the translation of «Анна Каренина» [Anna Karenina] by Marian Schwartz.
To Jon Kertzer
Deep in a cave there sits a man
Watching the shadows on the wall.
He is unchained; his skin is dun.
From once retreating from the sun
Towards this frigid pall.
The figures dance before his eyes.
He turns his head now to apprise
Himself that fire does duly burn behind.
A voice from far above him speaks, slow, droll, and dry.
The man's heart races faster than his mind.
"It is all right, sir; things shall shapify."