Gravity

Karl Plank

When night calls for sounds 

 to cease, the barred owl 

 yet cries "Who cooks for you?" 

 and somewhere a woman 

 slippers through the dark 

 to a kitchen where water drips（滴水槽） 

 a slow beat on the worn basin. 

 She nooses the tap with string, 

 a strand that drops to the drain（下水道）, 

 and waits for each bead 

 to catch the thread and 

 descend into a well of silence 

 not even night can bring.