Roll back the stone from the sepulchre's mouth！

    I sense disturbance deep within， as if some sorcery

    had shocked the occupant's hand alive again， back

    to compose a document in calligraphy so dragonish

    that a single misstep made it necessary to stop

    right then and there and tear the botched draft up，

    begin again and stop， tear up again and scatter

    a squall of paper lozenges atop the architecture

    that the mind designs around it， assembling a city

    somewhat resembling the seaport of your birth，

    that blinking arrangement of towers and signage

    you now wander underneath， drawn forward by the spell

    of the sea's one scent， by the bell of the night ship

    that cleaves through the mist on its path to the pier.

    Surrender to that vision and the labor apprehensible

    as you take to the streets from the refuge of a chair

    so emphatically comfortable even Lazarus himself

    would have chosen to remain unrisen from its velvet，

    baffling the messiah， His many onlookers muttering

    awkwardly to themselves， downcast till a sudden

    dust devil spirals in from the dunes-a perfect excuse

    to duck back indoors. （The sand spangles their eyes，

    the little airborne stones impinge upon such faces

    as only Sorrow's pencil would ever dare to sketch，

    and even then， it wouldn't be a cakewalk， you realize.

    A dust devil at sea would be called a waterspout.）

    You fear that you have been demanded into being

    only to be dropped on the wintry streets of this

    imagination rashly， left easy prey for the dockside

    phantoms， unwatched and unawaited， and I know

    what you mean， almost exactly. This cardboard city

    collapses around us； another beautiful document

    disassembles into anguish-a cymbal-clap-and we can't

    prevent it. At one the wind rises， and the night ship

    trembles， drowsing back into its silver cloud. At two it embarks

    upon a fiercer derangement. We are in this together.

    And we will find protection only on the night ship.