You shone like daybreak in the mind
I could not believe it:
You were a voyager death had taken
You were a dead man the voyage had taken
And all we did—in surprise at your return—
was run through our country
torn apart by fences, hijacked
by the settlers’ grim buildings

We don’t know the nature of this canal that brought us to the sea
nor which buildings or sidewalks or doleful dawn we suffered
I could not believe it:
You were a voyager death brought back
You were a dead man the voyage brought back
while I was polishing a jewel in the mind….

I cannot believe that death and the voyage
took you, then brought you back