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my father could afford to pay the fare
my father could afford to pay the farethe horizon ahead was a curtain closedbehind the curtain in the next day laywittenberg and that winter two winters beforethe carriage that brought me from summer and a place where there was nothing for me to do there wasa draft that entered those long daysin from around the…
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in the sun brillianced square
in the sun brillianced squaremy saturday shadow had shrunkdown to the smallcircle in which i stoodloudly the gander flocks gaggledand more loudly the merchant throngsand the throngs of purchasers haggledi receivedfree rumours of plagues and of warsfree news of birth and of death i was offered cabbage and kaleoffered turnips and carrotsgarlic and leeks beans…
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squinted sun peeks
squinted sun peeksover the edgebright eye opened eye from the far eastorientaleye of one pot stonedeye the colour of firewhite surf stretchesfrom the corners of the eyeit squints at the house white comes out of the walls red comes out of the roofsquints at the barn red comes out of the walls green comes out…
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collegienstrasse had changed
collegienstrasse had changedrapidly from a dusk shadedcobblestone garden from where many youthful voices had climbed like vinesand the youthful laughter of many had bloomedrapidly changed to a street fallowed for the night wherethe students who were the seeds from where all those voicesand all that laughter had sproutedthe students had gone homeand the avenue had…
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paracelsus arrived
paracelsus arrivedbefore the west gatewas unlockedwhile he waitedto ask the watchmanif the pestilence had cometo wittenberg before he hadthe east gate was opened like an eyeand the morning’s early sunthat had risen from where it waitedits shining entered the town like a tide
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paracelsus who was
paracelsus who wasphysician at basel on the day the pestilence arrivedonce said there was no cloudover the town that day no stormfrom where a first raindrop felland another then a thirdthen a quarter of a delugean evil helios climbed the sky that dayand from midday shonedown on a first in the squarethe first felt his…
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the mouth on the horizon appears
the mouth on the horizon appearsto open wide as a yawn and full of firethe highway appears to comeout of the mouth toward you like a dawn long and thin asphalt cigarfrom behind the windshield of a car the apparatus of an eye looks up the highway into the blinding brilliance in the mouth sees…
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there came a messenger once
there came a messenger oncein august it wasearly september late in the afternoonhis horsesweat lathered and panting he rodethrough the archway to the frontdoors the heavy oak doors to our priviledgehe brought instruction for besserercharles’ armies had occupiedstuttgart it was pillaged and burnedulm was taxed into destitution and submissionwhen others of his classmates here had…
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from denmark hamlet brought silver
from denmark hamlet brought silverspeciedalers and croninand so he paid to wear the black robeand the recognition from the towns’ folkthat he was a student hereso he paid for admissioninto these corridors of ignorance and revelationadmission to these classroomswhere both daydreams and fascinations werebrought to the tablefor me he boughtmemories of how he kneltat his…
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instructed
instructedin my first hourhere by the danish kingto share his chamber with mehis meals and his clothing his booksi possessed nothing and hamlethe was his father’s desired sonthe student favouredby the dean of philosophyalberti who instructed himto show me the townto be a host to me
Jake's Flea Market 