--Bruce Beasley
I am words in a language I don’t speak
A dead one
Are
they even words? I’ve never seen
them carved on any stele unearthed
slashes scorch marks red
ocher months-dried reed
funerary
Never heard
that throat-trill
anywhere else
fricative like the spill
of candle wax over ice
I don’t think anyone
ever spoke it
Does it have
an alphabet
or assemblage of
learnable runes
Is that sound the talonprint of an owl
I’m translating into English even now
Burnt and pictosyllabic
stalactite-lit
How do you say in this dead language Hello
How do you say How many days’ walk are you
(whoever you are)
How many days’ walk away are you
away
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