there is nothing worse - Alain Mabanckou

there is nothing worse
than the grief of black-rhun palms
the sleep of swamps
the silence of passerines

there is nothing worse
than the gossiping
of red ants
the confabs of praying mantis
eyes of agate
in dark lairs
the sky overcast with folded cloth

god turns his back on ushow can one read

the tables of the law
translate the omens
of night
for everything was written

---

Alain Mabanckou (born 1966) Republic of Congo
Translated by Patrick Williamson
Source: Rain Poems of London