Portbou lullaby for Benjamin
eleonora's falcon
held walter's hair
between beak
as she sank
somewhere far
from shelter
gathering ghosts
i have had
pleasure
of being
broken
down
piece by piece
line
after line
(watch walter
walk so slowly
bend down
resting body
against rock
cleaning spectacles
with cloth
squeezing out
of suitcase
hear
him)
breath bird
carries
to cliff
portbou lullaby for benjamin ll
steps
to
sea
who
forgot
who
adorno
didn't answer
arendt
not available
still
sittin on grass
as if preparing
picnic
case not closed
books
papers
singlet
trousers
shirt
something special
in bowl
you're sweating
over everything
woman watches
worried
man
caught
between pages
of book
no one
will write
no one
will write
waiting
for
walter
to come
back
complete
charge
slivers
of skin
survive
calepin
in this
or that
archive abandoned
portbou lullaby for benjamin lll
sovereign tears
still
running
down
cheeks
cold
like
sky
cold
as lead
tetraethyl
cold
as crude
(standard
oil texaco
i g farben)
fine
line
fine line
i give
expression
to
here
here
stones
shiver
in shadow
of paper piling
on
top
of
one
world
sleeping
on feet
another
arcade
entered
death's
angel
cleaning spectacles
with tissue
taunted by silence
haunted by silence
memory
in absentia
refugee
from rocks
hide
beneath branches
brother
points
of light
vanish
walter we
yet young
history's
history
come
clean
come
clean
passing
time
true
petrels
pass
over
water
water
dancing on light
turning away
away
light
slipping
away
i&
i we
are we
these ancient
lips still
shiver
speaking
to shadow
with sea's
teeth
posses
time
possessed
time
bitter
apparition
look out
at harbor
((history
hollow
(ibm
slave labor
stutthof))
you walk towards
storm
petrel
step
by
step
take me
by shoulder
maybe
we
get
away
away
granite
glistens
tears
sweat
steal
your wings
walter
& appear
as another
man is man
berlin brother brecht
said holding bishop
in hand
of losing
game
dust
blown off pages
apparition
machinery
sky
stratagem
sun
chain
seasons
never to be
noted again
sweet brother benjamin
made from steel
exile's
equation
rests
doesn't
sleep
formulate
science of skin
dream dream
slaughter
innocents in kaunas
riga
how
you
learnt
to
love
asja
who didn't
love you
brother benjamin
saying it simply
under leaves
"The only way of knowing a person is to love them without hope."
Walter BenjaminWalter Benjamin
