And the next poem is called, "Author's Prayer."
Can you follow me OK?
Yes.
More or less?
Yes.
Ok, "Author's Prayer"
"If I speak for the dead, I must leave this animal of my body.
I must write this same poem over and over,
for an empty page is the white flag of their surrender.
If I speak for them, I must walk on the edge of myself.
I must live as a blind man who runs through rooms
without touching the furniture.
Yes, I live.
I can cross the streets asking, 'What year is it?'
I can dance in my sleep and laugh in front of the mirror.
Even sleep is a prayer, Lord.
I will praise your madness, and in a language
not mine, speak of music that wakes us,
music in which we move.
For whatever I say is a kind of petition,
and the darkest days must I praise."