A Poem For Today - Extracts from The Dice Player
KEN DICKINSON
Extracts from The Dice Player
Who am I to say to you
what I say to you?
I was not a stone polished by water
and became a face
nor was I a cane punctured by the wind
and became a flute…
I am a dice player,
Sometimes I win and sometimes I lose
I am like you
or slightly less…
I was born next to the well
next to the three lonely trees, lonely like the nuns
born without a celebration and without a midwife
I was named by chance
and belonged to a family by chance,
and inherited its features, traits,
and illnesses:
First – an imbalance in the arteries,
and high blood pressure
Second – shyness in addressing the mother,
the father, and the grandmother – the tree
Third – hoping to cure from flu
with a cup of hot chamomile
Fourth – laziness in talking about the gazelle and the lark
Fifth – boredom of winter nights
Sixth – a gross failure in singing …
I played no role in who I became
It was by chance that I became a male …
I am fortunate that I sleep alone
and can listen to my body
and believe in my talent in discovering pain
and call on the doctor, ten minutes before death,
ten minutes is enough to live by chance
and disappoint the nothingness
Who am I to disappoint nothingness?
Who am I, who am I
Mahmoud Darwish’
Kurt Heyl
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