A message might be given to many, but those for whom it is intended, will understand.
~Rwandan proverb


Right worshipful friend,
I commend myself to you.
You alone have known me
as Dead Eyes in my earlier incarnation
and walked among my dreams
of ice floes and oranges.
Today thus I write to you
asking that you keep these words
as ever I have kept yours.

Do not go down to the sea to drown,
or seek out the fire-eyed angels
to whom you would sell
your longshanks for silver
and divine grace for mercy.
Stay warm; stay sane. Wait for me
until the Viking ships
come home from Vinland –
and in the meantime

may the hand of Christ sustain you.

Far from the king’s henchmen
the lion no longer rampant
weeps guetty argent on a field of sable.

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Speak bitterness, Lancka.

*
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Roel, I cannot tell you
that I came to love your country.
I would have given up all the earth for you,
but the desert did not relinquish me
and all my dreams still dwell in the dust.

Now I have no more poems to give away;
I know my exile and I go there gladly,
to the thunder-covered land.