Those who say the end has come

will one day be right

 

said the oracle

 

who knows

not what will happen

but what is always, what is true

 

We climbed the mountain to where the sibyl lived

with her radio

listening to broadcasts from around the world

 

At the threshold of her cave

we heard voices

crackling with distance

 

We knew then

that we’d arrived

somewhere

messages can be received

 

Inside the cave we saw shadows

which were our shadows

cast by the sun

to whom we’d turned our backs

 

but also, darkness

for which light has no responsibility

 

We were a party

of many selves

shared between few bodies

 

Sweat made the skin of our faces glisten

With great effort

we recycled

air

 

We had never seen the sibyl

who we imagined

at her kitchen table

making food

and listening to public radio

 

We wondered if we would recognize her

in the dark of the cave

 

or in the brightness

where we stood

unsure if we should enter

or await a signal

 

Then from deep within

the cave

emanated a language

we did not recognize

but understood perfectly

 

It said, This is what you must know

 

We called it music

We stood there listening for many years

no longer men

nor women

 

just a kind of listening

for which we were perfectly tuned

 

I can only report what happened

what is true

 

Matt Rader is the author of six collections of poems, most recently, Fine (Nightwood Editions 2024), as well as a collection of stories and a book of experimental nonfiction. His work has appeared in publications across North America, Australia, and Europe. He teaches Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia Okanagan.

Read another poem by Matt Rader here.

Read more poems by Matt Rader in Issue Nine of The Lonely Crowd, available here.