Valery Kourinsky

02.20.99

PRIOR TO

 

Prior to this
there was a clear heaven
in middle of world El Nino.
Prior to this every touch of all still alive
was a caress
in spite of the spitefulness of the thousands.
Prior to this I was free
though running afoul of sea-weeds knee-deep in an obvious puddle of
common life.
Prior to this I was joious
though shed the most bitter tears
in history of mankind.
Prior to this I was as a new build house
notwithstanding the ruin that I happened to be.
Prior to this the years were transparent
during the dark centuries
put in the sheaths of the seconds.
Prior to this I was a fire
within the coldness of old ashes turned to stones.
Prior to this every bird was that singing
for hearing of all staying silent as Cassiopeia constellation.
Prior to this I was everywhere
being slightly as a mere point in space.
And lines around me drew
by themselves the boundless pictures
whereon dominated a gray emptiness
of busi mobs with heavy iron concerns.
And air was beaming with insights
which smelled of papyruses and vellums,
but everybody knew the life is very well studed thing
with a start and an end,
with a goal or without it,
with a rusty tap for the goodness and constancy,
with loud "welcome" that something in it cries out
when a traitors again appears,
again,
and again
appears.
And again there is not such luck
as it was just prior to this
abyss while.