IV
from The Lady of Syros
Summary
The old sculptor of Syros carved me according to his own needs
mute so as not to contradict him
arms crossed on my chest to avoid all embraces
thighs sealed shut to preserve my virginity
eyes were superfluous
the old sculptor of Syros was blind
Gaze turned inward
legs fettered, arms sealed to the chest the girl sculpted by the man whose eyelids were sewn shut with iron thread
The dead princess I was meant to accompany to the other world had nothing to say
it was yesterday it was very long ago
thousands and thousands of years
I still hear my mother's voice as she brought in the laundry hung between two cypress trees
“Come back to the house, Kia, the death that took your brother away doesn't want you!”
Her voice crossed out by the angrily blowing wind
a subterranean wind that cracked the earth
raised the waves and made ships pitch in the cove
wind that announced a storm […]
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- A Handful of Blue EarthPoems by Vénus Khoury-Ghata, pp. 8Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2017