The Triumph of the Egg: A Book of Impressions from American Life In Tales and Poems

MP3 Audio CD. The Triumph of the Egg: A Book of Impressions from American Life In Tales and Poems

THE DUMB MAN


There is a story.--I cannot tell it.--I have no words. The story is
almost forgotten but sometimes I remember.

The story concerns three men in a house in a street. If I could say the
words I would sing the story. I would whisper it into the ears of
women, of mothers. I would run through the streets saying it over and
over. My tongue would be torn loose--it would rattle against my teeth.

The three men are in a room in the house. One is young and dandified.
He continually laughs.

There is a second man who has a long white beard. He is consumed with
doubt but occasionally his doubt leaves him and he sleeps.

A third man there is who has wicked eyes and who moves nervously about
the room rubbing his hands together. The three men are waiting--
waiting.

Upstairs in the house there is a woman standing with her back to a
wall, in half darkness by a window.

That is the foundation of my story and everything I will ever know is
distilled in it.

I remember that a fourth man came to the house, a white silent man.
Everything was as silent as the sea at night. His feet on the stone
floor of the room where the three men were made no sound.