Page 24 - THE BOOK 11 12 2020 8 pm FINAL_Neat

Eliza Raben

Lapis L.A.
Ed. Isaac Ylitalo

SLEEP STORY I
I am on a flying boat with Lual and Father.

They are talking to me,
but I cannot hear what they say.

I ask them to speak louder, please, but the words come out in English,

and they only stare at me blankly before they keep talking,
soundless like the deep night.

Suddenly there is a bang,
and the flying boat shivers as if cold,

and the sky outside the round windows turns to fire,
and the flying boat falls into a dizzying spiral,

plunging like a bird with a broken wing.

I look around for Lual and Father, the smoke clouding my eyes,
and find them right before they are pulled upwards,

and dissolve into white clouds.
The flying boat lands with a crash,

bouncing and skidding along barren ground

before it stops at the entrance to a city of ragged tents.
The flying boat is smoking and twisted,

and I have to clamber over
chunks of metal that jut like broken ribs into the belly of the flying boat.

I push my way out into hard afternoon sunlight,

and walk into the endless land of tents.
SLEEP STORY II

(From writer’s point of view)
I am walking along a field of

dry, barren dust, carrying a heavy stone.
Two boys are there with me.

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