Читать книгу For Display Purposes Only - David Seymour - Страница 14

Being negatively capable,

can I rightly consider myself

a perishable non-food item or novel

element in this repetitive

environment? While exploring northern

forests, or vacationing along

the Atlantic seaboard? Then, I am

also a featherless biped, prone

to realizing I’ll never play the Dane,

nor ever again sing ‘By the Rivers

of Babylon’ in my boyhood kitchen. Also,

when I say ‘I’, I could be referring

to someone else entirely, having mistaken

him for me, as seen from a deceptive angle

or too great a distance. His past is

a composite of anecdotes rigged

with discarded set dec. Crossing

a room’s threshold, he’ll forget his purpose

and cling to an ideal version. He wears

a louche smirk as if he’s watching

a film in which he plays no role. You know,

of course, when I say ‘he’ who I mean.

His shadow precedes him, describing

the directions he may take in a voice

quieter than the wind not blowing

and no one stepping across fresh snow.