No sooner
do you pass through the gates

than you too fall prey
to the insatiable gods
of sleep—

moving from house to house in a trance

searching for somewhere
to rest your weary bones

somewhere
to close your eyes

somewhere
to sleep.
 

FABLE OF THE BIRD

This is the bird that invented silence.
He created it one day
when he stopped 
singing.

If you listen carefully when the wind dies down
you can hear his silent
song.

When the silence has lasted too long,
he breaks it in two

and invents it 
all over
again.