quote of the week

In the sunless forest
of Ritigala

heat in the stone
heat in the airless black shadows

nine soldiers on leave
strip uniforms off
and dig a well

to give thanks
for surviving this war

A puja in an unnamed grove
the way someone you know
might lean forward
and mark the place
where your soul is
- always, they say,
near to a wound.

In the sunless forest
crouched by a forest well

pulling what was lost
out of the depth.

(Michael Ondaatje, Wells (1998))