They
We could see them if we liked to, though they are not at all as we are, and almost do not notice us. How indeed can we interest them?
Once I caught sight of one.
It was evening, and I was together with my sadness in the silent embrace of my walls.
The minutes burned, because I did not yet know how to extinguish their consuming flame.
And my reverie struggled helplessly on the yellow, shining boards of my floor.
The objects importuned me, and I believed them.
Then there was one brief moment …
Oh, if I could only find words to describe him!
Everything visionary, everything habitual was lit up by his light, and departed from my attention—and there fell on me his unspeakable glance.
And answering my dread, he merely said to me:
“Don’t be afraid.”
Then again the time came on, and the objects once more bewitched me.