Use of Weapons (Iain Banks) читать бесплатно онлайн полную версию книги

Zakalwe's Song

Watching from the room_As the troops go by.__You ought to be able to tell, I think,_Whether they are going or coming back_By just leaving the gaps in the ranks.__You are a fool, I said,_And turned to leave,_Or maybe only mix a drink_For that deft throat to swallow_Like all my finest lies.__I faced into the shadows of things,_You leant against the window,_Gazing at nothing.__When are we going to leave?_We could get stuck here,_Caught_If we try to stay too long. (turning)_Why don't we leave?__I said nothing,_Stroked a cracked glass,_Exclusive knowledge in the silence;__The bomb lives only as it is falling.__

— Shias Engin.

Complete Collected Works (Posthumous Edition).

Month 18, 355th Great Year (Shtaller, Prophetican calendar).

Volume IX: "Juvenilia and Discarded Drafts'