"YOU PRONOUNCE THE FACTS"
You pronounce the facts: shadows
ashes and the dull illumination
of darkened daylight.
You renounce: the tall ships
of societies frozen into the floes
for very little you’d back off and listen no more
except to your will to grasp the meaning
of signs and sensations
but in the act of confession love
is mingled with lies, and the rusted
wreckage of speech casts a faint
light before your feet.
From Meridian Line (2010) by Paul Bélanger, translated by Judith Cowan, nominated for a 2011 Governor-General's Award for Translation.
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