The Heart is a Void: Ashes to Ashes

Chapter 88

Fragments of a lost poem by an anonymous author

I.

As the ancient carriage drew along the dirt,

the carriage's wheels whispered rivulets of grating noise which sounded like hail,

mingled with the hoarse cry of bats from above,

and the crooked spokes clacked like skeletons across the mud.

II.

The heavy dirge of the wind and thick leaves gave ceremony

to the harsh staccato of Ghezel's skeleton in its coffin, and draped it

with that funereal harmony which eludes life itself.

The carriage that bore her to the funeral now stood bare.

III.

People make an uproar on earth about the virtues,

and moral struggles, yet, as a nation mourns, its fondest praises of virtue are poured

liberally across the fresh graves, and sainthood drenches them.

So also Ghezel, whose burial was flowered with passionate eulogy.

IV.

Fantasies and epic stories are just a pale reflection

of the reimagined life of the dead in their eulogies,

where their sins are absolved, and they are saints and heroes.

It is the curse of fabulists to always have an ear to the grave.

V.

Ghezel's ruptured body had torn easily apart

during the long, rough carriage ride to her funeral.

Were she alive, would the new pain eclipse the praise

or would she still bask in the saintliness bestowed to her?

VI.

A coffin-laden carriage departs at late afternoon

to a domain oft wished for, where all praise,

prayer and worship is found: the funeral.

Wisdom's words drift the air like soft dusk light:

if you crave unstinting praise, then die young.

Sonnets and other Poems by Efrem C. K. R. Esyu, in translation.

(Translator's Note: According to most extant copies, these sonnets were typically accompanied by a curt dedication to Lady Ghezel Esyu. The writing of sonnets was a popular aristocratic and courtly pastime at the time of Efrem Esyu. The sonnets of that time were known for ending on a rhyming couplet with a long last line that summarises the 'argument' of the piece. Efrem satirises this in his first sonnet. The rhyme scheme of the original poetry is not preserved in this translation, as it would be difficult to reproduce while preserving fidelity to the text. From the numbering of the sonnets, it seems that not all have been preserved.)

Sonnet I.

Your fair skin does not contend with your virtue,

nor with your honesty, though some may contend it so,

rather, only your fairness holds your virtues' splendour in tow,

that though it overawes, it modestly will not subdue

our hearts and conjure malfeasant visions of

further virtues and merits which you do not truly have.

Let jesters mock, and say that your beauty masks your

lack of virtue, for how should your beauty, allied

with temperance, lead the heart to vice? But, they say busily,

it is the talk of the town, you have made yourself

a commodity, passed around among men as in a flesh market.

Be it even so, what is the virtue of a commodity?

Its use. If many have use of your skin, then this is in

agreement with your virtue. Thus, my argument is correct notwithstanding.

Sonnet III.

A feeling is planted within the heart,

and it bleeds out when stimulated,

so also love, though in court we are taught

its manners and ways, did not break

out truly until liberated by your gaze,

which pierced like a horn through the heart,

and covered the earth with blood. I thought

then, I must have my revenge, and prayed

that one day I should find you and do the same.

But when my horn pierced you, foolishly I

found that you did not bleed, for your blood

had already been spilled by another, and my

foolish quest for vengeance was never necessary.

In this way we find that love solves problems long before our striving.

Sonnet VII.

Like a trained model for paintings, you move from pose to pose,

each imbued with a pathos that an actress may envy.

Yet you still want for a painter, someone to brush

your features flat against the canvas, and plant

their imagination across your skin like varnish,

to complete the product. I would offer to

be your painter, but I know you will charge

a steep commission, and it would tax me

too much when my family has debt to pay

greedy moneylenders. Else they shall demand

my body in payment, and I as their slave!

Ah, but what if I repaid the debt, and they used

the money to pay your commission, so gaining

your body instead of mine? Then you would enjoy the fate which I had feared.

Tree of Life

The weaving of dead, grey bark

like a river unceasing

flows upwards to the canopy-

horizon of life.

This statue of life is a fossil,

a shell on the wan beach sand

beside the great tides of death,

yet still it presses towards the sky.

In the end, we all fall off its side,

for none can climb to infinity.

Soon, the accomplishments of the climb

shall no longer be visible, though

they gave us ambition that has soared above us

but found no foothold that could hold it.

Only devils lurk its highest branches,

and laugh at our futile sport, their trap for us.