after “The White Horse” by Yasunari Kawabata In the low light…
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
After Werner Herzog
Four charcoal horses animate
in torchlight, that flickering first projector,
sans horsemen, pre-Apocalypse.
Red ochre palm print
by the cave mouth like a house number,
or graffito, preserved by landslide—
a human touch
kept from human touch
for 32,000 years,
the terms of ingress sealed
like a contract: We live
in peace, or want to.
Come and go in peace.