Page 58 - Demo

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In the movement of the water.
A Difference of Opinion
M was here when time began its annoying ticking, Although he prefers to use the term “rotating,” Some flick of a finger that set the planets spinning
Around their stars, moons around their Planets, and galaxies tumbling, not toward, Away, or even through the enormity of void.
Mephistopheles says it’s really all that’s ever Happened. The rest is consequence. Faustus, though, sees it differently. Nothing,
He replies, is what was or could have been Otherwise. M was motherless as any angel, But Faustus was born and suckled, and no
Matter how unlikely, he’d survived. M Opened his eyes and was himself. Faustus Is still a project under construction. He
Has no craving for stasis. For everything else, He’s full of desire, asks M if he remembers
The Chinese roast ducks, dripping spice powder
And oil in the windows of the shops they passed In Hong Kong. Faustus wanted to serve them With a Bandol from the south of France. He
Likes strong flavors. Meanwhile, the Earth Continues to turn, and a new moon rises East of where they’re sitting. For M,
Absence and presence are interchangeable. Faustus refuses to accept that. There are spaces In his world where people are missing, friends
Who died, parents he never knew, Helen Who’s somewhere but not with him—even Margarete is a kind of absence, having
Chosen static heaven over change and
His unsanctified bed. After dinner, he goes
For a walk on the beach. Some nights, in the dark,
He can’t tell the difference between water And sky, but the sound of the black waves still Comes up from below, and stars swirl
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