Stone And Flesh

They were two: Petrified, wide-eyed, Staring straight ahead, Neither laughing nor crying At the daily round of worship; Cymbals, bells, lamps, incense, recitations. She said: Beloved, Isn't it boring to be fixed here forever, Neither moving nor participating in the spectacle? When the thought issued from her mind He became conscious of himself, Entrapped though in stone. In a trice, They escaped into the world, And were lost in its hubbub. She wept bitterly, Large drops rolling down her cheeks. Again, he struck her; she screamed: Both abused each other, Lamenting over their loss of happiness. Surrounding them, like the walls of a prison, Was the humdrum sordidness of poverty: The state of perpetual want, The feeling, which never quite left them, Of dreams unfulfilled, wishes unsatisfied. And the gradual degradation that circumstances bring. Suddenly, he awoke, as if from a nightmare: What are we doing here, my dear? Shouldn't we be over there, In the consoling darkness of the sanctum? In a flash they disappeared, Back to their original places Wide-eyed and squat, Staring ahead meaninglessly: Two stone idols. [From The Serene Flame]