Читать книгу Otherworld, Underworld, Prayer Porch - David Bottoms - Страница 11

Question on Allatoona

The moon was in the sky and on the water at the same time, and the sky

filled with stars. A dock jutted into the cove,

and the banks were heavily wooded and dark, the whole cove sizzling

with small sounds. From out of the woods on the far bank,

an owl called twice, paused, then hooted again.

Beyond the cove the lake widened quickly,

and a mile or more away

lights of the fishing camp flickered on the surface of the lake.

Our tackle box sat closed on the floor of the boat.

Far behind us on the porch of a cabin, a guitar

backed up a mandolin. We listened

instead for the question with no answer,

watched the moon on the water, then the moon in the sky,

and when enough silence had passed,

the frogs let go in great bellows up and down

the edge of the water.

There were no bass in that cove. No lunkers,

not even the pretense of a fish. Nobody even bothered

to untangle the backlashed reel.