1
I charge you, lips and teeth,
keep watch upon my tongue:
silence is legal tender everywhere.


2
I have a quarrel with the clock.
Quick, quick!
These inconsiderable seconds fill
the basins of our lives to overflowing,
and we are emptied
into the sink and pipes of death.
How furiously it ticks this fine morning.
Sun, of all that lived God has only listened to Joshua,
how shall I hope that He will listen to me?