When we lived in Gondwana
I walked with Wittgenstein
Along the Tethys shore
It was a Wednesday
And the air was warm
He spoke
“I feel something in me like a lump
“Which, were it to melt
“Would let me cry
“Or find the right words
“Or perhaps even a melody …”
I replied, “I’ve been there, man
“It sucks”
“But this something,” he went on
“(Is it my heart?)
“It cannot melt …
“Or is it only … only …
“I’m too much a coward
“To let the temperature rise?”
It was a Wednesday
And the air was warm
We walked on in silence
Broken only by the eerie beat
Of a circling archaeopteryx
(for Steve Mitchell)
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