In the Absence of Clocks

A Brief History of Ukraine

14 A Brief History of Ukraine In late evening, as the sundials died, a storm of leaves forced color onto the wind, revealed its spine. Farmhands gave no notice as the mountain air sucked clouds from the valley. A milky fog collected so thick it tasted on the tongue. In this way a wolf could pass unnoticed between a man and his self-loathing, a child could be stolen from behind the wall of his mother’s love. In the panic of this night, ghosts were birthed from searchlights, hounds discovered sirens in their throats. By mid-morning the boy was found halfalive near the dark leg of the Dnieper River, deep in famine country. The thin boy was woken each day after, before even the liturgy of the rooster, to tend the lamp of the sanctuary. ...