Palinode XXI

Palinode XXI


When Stesichorus,
he who fathers

a chorus, retracted
his blame

 on Helen for Troy’s
devastation,

he recovers
his eyesight.

He could appreciate
beauty again.

Each time I
retract a statement

I made in life,
I recover

my voice.
That’s how much

you want the dead
to speak

to you again and again
but only

to contradict
their death,

in other words,
themselves.

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