smokescreen

smokescreen

’n rookreuk draal om jou jas
soos van iemand wat elke dag
langs ’n vuur slaap

dit is ongeskryfde sinne
wat jy frommel
om verby jou rookroetvingers
in die druis van die skoorsteen vlam te vat

in die oggend lê die as
in die vorm van die woorde 

smokescreen

the smell of smoke lingers on your coat:
someone who has learnt
to sleep beside a fire

these are the sentences you never wrote
that you crushed
to catch alight
in the throat of the chimney

in the morning only the ash remains

a feint outline of those words