How to Watch a Solar Eclipse in a Bowl of Water

The unbearable lightness of being no one
                                                             - Slavoj Žižek


By day, stay close to home
          speak in modulated tones.
If the paper seller's son is gone
          don't ask after him.
Smile at the vegetable man's daughter
          even if you wonder - is it she
who slips hartal notices
          beneath coconuts, carrots?

Night after night
          let the house disappear
the town
          with it the island.
Beyond the sea
          you may sense a lit planet
but know this darkness,
...