MARIGOLD WOMAN: Dispatches from the End of the World
I am a sentry at the end of the world. I must keep standing until the door is closed and the sky winks out. So far I am alone here.
I am a ghost at the end of the world, holding in my hands the words I meant to speak to my beloved. I give them to the Almighty for safekeeping, and he hands them back. What does it mean?
A voice said, "Cry!" and all I could do was rub my red eyes as the grass caught fire all around me.
*
At the end of the world I build a fire with my fierceness again the cold of dying stars, but like thorns it burns all too quickly.
At the end of the world I am surrounded by clouds of witnesses, but the silence is so profound that I cannot speak. I will write these words for the people who come next, those strange ones.
At the end of the world I find that I get visitors, if I am willing to let them in. These angels in strange disguises bring good news.
*
It's lonely here at the end of the world, with the seagulls crying and the stars dying and the names of the dead written on my hands. I stand for nothing and for everything, and the door is my sister and my heart is full of glass and no matter how many sad songs I sing in my rasping voice you are still not here.
Love is not enough, not even here at the end of the world.
Lies are not enough, not even here at the end of the world.
He is not here at the end of the world, and I am here. The Almighty is here. The ghosts are here. He is not here. I am here.
What does it mean?
I am a ghost at the end of the world, holding in my hands the words I meant to speak to my beloved. I give them to the Almighty for safekeeping, and he hands them back. What does it mean?
A voice said, "Cry!" and all I could do was rub my red eyes as the grass caught fire all around me.
At the end of the world I build a fire with my fierceness again the cold of dying stars, but like thorns it burns all too quickly.
At the end of the world I am surrounded by clouds of witnesses, but the silence is so profound that I cannot speak. I will write these words for the people who come next, those strange ones.
At the end of the world I find that I get visitors, if I am willing to let them in. These angels in strange disguises bring good news.
It's lonely here at the end of the world, with the seagulls crying and the stars dying and the names of the dead written on my hands. I stand for nothing and for everything, and the door is my sister and my heart is full of glass and no matter how many sad songs I sing in my rasping voice you are still not here.
Love is not enough, not even here at the end of the world.
Lies are not enough, not even here at the end of the world.
He is not here at the end of the world, and I am here. The Almighty is here. The ghosts are here. He is not here. I am here.
What does it mean?