INVENTION OF THE CENTER

They locked him up in a circle. He still insisted

an thinking and observing. He kept pacing

within the circle, close to the wall in the yard

of the circular jail. He did not speak. In the evening

he continued his rounds, his head bent down. Perhaps he

meditated;

perhaps he learned that every circle has a center

(or do all circles have the same center?)

Anyhow,

he would smile now and then, feeling on his back,

exactly on the large number they had stamped there,

the most secret, the most white bird sitting.