She tried to explain but he just cried. The violins cried with him, but she just couldn't hear Hear anything at all, above the din, above the screaming, of ancestors They sat on the floor, their faces so close, inhaling each other's breath He sat, very, very small, in the farthest corner of his head. His face was enormous from that perspective, with eyes like huge windows looking out on her sweet face She tried to explain, but it was no use, he only slipped farther, out of touch His words were poison, so he kept quiet, to explain the explanations, confuse the confusion Paralysed for the lack of speech, the venom dripping from the child's mouth Nowhere to run, whither to spring now? Some day it will all stop IX-1-98