Five records

He does not steal money
he steals sleep

At night he slips into bedrooms
making no sound at all
and takes the sleep from people
stuffing it into a great sack

In the morning people wake up weary
with dark shadows under their eyes
they do not know their rest has been stolen

The thief goes home
and gives the stolen sleep
to his little sick daughter
who cannot rest because of the pain

She drifts off at last
with a smile

And the thief watches her
his heart heavy
with being both
a criminal and a savior

A boy stands at the edge of the valley
small against the mountains
and the mountains are big
and say nothing

And because he was scolded that morning
and because he is seven
and the world is unfair
he takes a breath
and shouts into the valley
YOU IDIOT

And the valley takes a breath
and gives it back
idiot idiot idiot
three times four times
once from every side

The boy sits down in the grass
and cries
grandpa the mountains don't like me
they call me names
did you hear?

Grandpa sits down beside him
pipe smoke rising straight
like a proper upbringing
Try telling them something else
he says
mountains repeat
they can't make anything up
they are only big

The boy stands up
wipes his nose on his sleeve
breathes in down to his boots
and shouts
I LOVE YOU

And the valley gives it back
I love you I love you I love you
once from every side
and then once more
and it keeps on saying it
long into the evening

the world is one big echo
it gives you back
whatever you call into it

The old man was on his deathbed
His family was around him
The priest spoke to him of paradise
The doctor spoke to him of morphine
Everyone was waiting for his last word
The word that would sum up his life
The word of wisdom for posterity

The old man opened his eyes
He looked at his wife his son his daughter his dog
He looked at the priest and the doctor
He took a deep breath
And he said
Damn
Then he died

The family was shocked
The priest was scandalized
The doctor noted the time of death

Only the dog understood
He wagged his tail
For 'Damn' was the word the old man said
When he was truly happy
And couldn't find a word big enough to say it.

The doctor's waiting room
smells of iodine and old paper
three coats on the coat rack
that have never met

A man with his arm in a sling
a girl coughing into her sleeve
an old lady with a shopping bag
sitting exactly one chair apart
as politeness requires

Magazines on the table
the princess is getting married
the princess divorced long ago
the horoscope says what to do in August
which August it was
nobody knows anymore
a recipe for perfect Christmas cookies
from a Christmas long since digested

Nobody speaks
and yet they understand each other
one cough answers another
one sigh another sigh
it is a shared silence
like a blanket over the knees

Next, calls the nurse
You go first, the old lady tells the man with the arm
I'm in no hurry
and then to the girl
go on, dear, you have school
I have all the time in the world

When the waiting room is empty
the doctor comes to the door
Mrs Smith, nothing wrong again?
Nothing, doctor
at home the silence is only mine
here for a while it was ours

Every morning at seven
on the market square
an old man in a grey coat
crumbled bread for the pigeons

and the pigeons knew him
the way one knows church bells

Then came the sign
FEEDING PIGEONS FORBIDDEN
fine one thousand crowns
signature illegible

Next morning at seven
the old man came
sat down on the bench
with empty hands
entirely empty

and the pigeons came all the same
landed on his shoulders
on his hat
on his knees

The clerk who had signed the sign
watched from the town hall window
on the third day he came down

What are you feeding them? he asked sternly
Nothing, said the man
Then why do they come?

And the old man smiled
The bread, that was for you
so you'd have something to forbid

They never came here for bread
they came here for me
and against that
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