AT THE HARBOR'S EDGE

The deaf-mute was waving his hands-he didn't hide his fear—

and pointing somewhere high up in the night. No one paid him any

attention. But he,

only he,had heard the croak of the wild bird

above the coal bins. When they carried the five coffins

out of the ship, the deaf-mute put his hands down, fished out

apiece of string from his pocket, and tied the bird by one of its feet.

(With such obscurities-he says-I seek to escape the dark.)