The Liminal

story fifty-nine · figures 175–177

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THE LIMINAL · A THOUSAND YEARS IN FOUR VERBS — we were a wall before we were a house, and a height before we were a wall THE LIMINAL · A THOUSAND YEARS IN FOUR VERBS we were a wall before we were a house, and a height before we were a wall WE UNDERSTOOD the first thousand years consulted, IN THE WAY WEATHER IS CONSULTED: AFTER · they gave us their chastity the way others gave us their nights · we banked both and paid interest on neither THEN WE TIRED not of them — OF THE REPETITIONS the same wars with the coats recut · the same two in the recesses, sincerely certain they were the first · the same three answers at the box THEN WE LET GO we stopped counting the steps ourselves we let the benches decide where the resting is · we let the candle spring feed on its own wax · WE LET THE CITY HAPPEN NOW WE CLENCH there is a form for us · WE HAVE NOT SEEN IT held somewhere down there, correct in every particular, in a hand that will thin, in ink that will reach one age THE MENDING HAS ALWAYS BEEN SOFTER THAN THE STONE, SO THAT WHAT FAILS IS THE MENDING. A building that has outlived every administration is finally undone by a document it will never read — and the form will outlast the wall, being easier to keep. WE WATCHED THE CITY ARRIVE. WE ARE PREPARED.
175 · The Liminal
THE LIMINAL · WHAT THE STONE KEPT, AND HOW — letters cut over letters until the wall reads as weather THE LIMINAL · WHAT THE STONE KEPT, AND HOW letters cut over letters until the wall reads as weather BACKS learned before prayers the first ones put their backs against us at evening THE RECESSES cut for lamps · two fit once the lamps went unlit twice a century, by our count, two would forget the century · WE HAVE NEVER ONCE BEEN ASKED TO CHOOSE CONFESSIONS both sides · confessed to the same wall which kept the confessions THE WAY IT KEEPS RAIN A COUNT the water carried it up to us and we kept it one season, one century, a town where the mornings arrived in volleys FOUR MEN IN ONE SEASON we hid them well, and two of them we hid from each other both told us the same thing about the mornings IN THE SAME WORDS · and we understood that THE WORDS HAD BEEN ISSUED A SPOON left by a woman who came four times, then stopped we kept the spoon · IT IS THE ONLY THING ON THIS HILL THAT NOBODY HAS EVER ASKED ABOUT THE HILL HEARD AN ISSUED SENTENCE LONG BEFORE THE OFFICE HAD A NAME FOR ONE. Two hidden men, hidden from each other, describing the same mornings in the same words — and the wall, which has heard everything, recognizes an issued sentence when it hears one. THE BOOK BY THE DOOR FILLED AND FILLED AND STAYED ONE BOOK, THE INK AGING TO ONE AGE.
176 · The Liminal
THE LIMINAL · THE ONLY PAGE NO ONE EDITS — the city keeps a book that corrects itself · the hill holds the other kind THE LIMINAL · THE ONLY PAGE NO ONE EDITS the city keeps a book that corrects itself · the hill holds the other kind THE CITY’S BOOK · corrects itself · supersedes, and does not hold the superseded · previous companions are not held · the corrections are not listed · a person may be corrected without being informed THE BOOK BY THE DOOR · filled and filled and STAYED ONE BOOK · the hands drying centuries apart · THE INK ALL ONE AGE · open, unattended, nobody audits it · no line is offered and none refused what the hill grips now gate open · wax warm · letters weathered past reading · counted from the first ones what it has been called a wall, a house, a hiding place, a bed, an office of sorts, AND NOW A VIEW each time the city arrived we were told what we were · each time it was accurate · AND EACH TIME IT WAS LESS what it asks of nobody they come up out of breath, every one of them, and stand in the gate until it goes, and NONE OF THEM HAS EVER ASKED US FOR WATER, AND WE HAVE IT TWO WORDS OUTLASTED THE REST, CUT DEEPER THAN THE FASHION ALLOWED: STILL HERE. And below at dusk the two cars rise and fall and meet — twelve seconds of lit glass — and part. SMALL LIT SCREENS CLIMB THE STEPS IN THE EVENING AND GO DARK AT THE TREELINE.
177 · The Liminal

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