A Pretty Sight. David O'Meara
Читать онлайн книгу.
the billiards table, unfazed, looking
for all the world like she’s just
breezed in from 1933
and there’s no nightmare to come.
But the picture’s all wrong, her face
unaged, and where are Alex,
Willi or Christoph?
Sophie sighs, presses
a hand against her brother’s cheek.
‘Hans, it’s because we died.’
She describes the trial,
its forgone verdict, the bulbs
that burned all night in their cells,
the shared last cigarette
in the courtyard. Hans has turned
the details over again,
his memory tightening the blurs
like a Leica lens while the tension
in his face subsides
in the respite of knowing
at least they tried. They’re even laughing,
aping the parrot shrieks
of Friesler’s indignation,
gossiping over the Führer’s last pose,
Hans with a finger
cocked against his temple.
They order café viennois.
Sophie pokes at the dollops of whip
while ordered traffic crawls
past the painted glass
of the window. The newest papers
in wooden clips
fanned across
the billiard nap. Skinhead rallies,
latest dictatorships. Hans makes
another hopeless gesture.
Did everything change, or nothing?
Coffees done, they consider the years
like doors they never entered,
as if history’s just a lot
of people trying
to get from one room
to another. Outside, Hans
mounts the steps of a slowing tram.
Sophie ties her hair back
with an abalone barrette
as she turns
down Leopoldstrasse
and waves, looking for all the world
like she’s going to haunt it.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.