Lantern

Never has he understood his own nature       
at the center of which,
a conversation between two men.

            He speaks to the others,
            thinks of the times
            he woke, the fresh snow,
    
later, in the dark,
reads the letter from his village.

Finally he rests
and dries his clothes.
Neha gives him a piece of meat
and lies at his side.

            At that time in the village
            a fear the animals would perish.
            The clergy made rounds, applying a balm.

            Most of this he would not remember.

He lay down his musket,
he lay down.
Drank
and stood again.