The hand brisk and urgent
rapt in last night’s dishes
and a hundred-word essay.
between the curtains dust
shaken, dances in the golden sun.
Lost and absent, my mind wanders to everything that is
not here
Until you come
remind me that I’ve already cleaned the divan.
** the reference to Tolstoy is taken from his diaries:
I was cleaning a room and, meandering about, approached the divan and couldn’t remember whether or not I had dusted it. Since these movements are habitual and unconscious, I could not remember and felt that it was impossible to remember- so that if I had dusted it and forgot- that is, and acted unconsciously, then it was the same as if I had not. If some conscious person had been watching, then the fact could be established. If, however, no one was looking on unconsciously, if the whole complex lives of many people go on unconsciously, then such lives are as if they never had been.
–
AICHA BINT YUSIF 