In Place of Acknowledgments

[An untitled poem included with the manuscript of The Accusation]

Fifty years in this northern land

Living as a machine that speaks

Living as a human under a yoke

Without talent

With a pure indignation

Written not with pen and ink

But with bones drenched with blood and tears

Is this writing of mine

Though they be dry as a desert

And rough as a grassland

Shabby as an invalid

And primitive as stone tools

Reader!

I beg you to read my words.

—Bandi