Sechde psalm
Want Amearika is in dame yn in skommelstoel op in feranda yn in ferveleas hûs oan in ferlitten dyk mar Anne sjocht it net.
Want Amearika is een bibletekaris yn Wichita, dy’t stof ophoastet en toverballen dielt mei de postrinner.
Want Amearika is dr. Abraham, dy’t penisilline en plasebo’s útdielt yn de stêd Woolrich, Pennsylvania.
Want Amearika is in âldman dy’t syn fuotten wasket yn Albion, Michigan. Se mei soarch ôfdrûget en dêrby fuotpoeier fan Dr. Scholl brûkt. Mar Anne sjocht it net. Anne sit opsletten.
Want Amearika is in bekearde ynbrekker dy’t slotmakker wurden is, hy lûkt de rolgerdyntsjes fan syn winkel elke dei om 9 oere op (útsein sneins, dan lit er syn tillefoannûmer achter op de winkeldoar).
Want Amearika is een dikke frou dy’t in fleugel ôfstoft yn English Creek, New Jersey.
Want Amearika is in fabrikant fan suêde wanten dy’t sittend op syn grutte draaistoel de spullen befielt en syn kosten en baten byhâldt.
Want Amearika is in bussjauffeur yn Embarrass, Minnesota, hy klokt de kilometers en sjocht de kartonnen kofferkes foarbygean.
Want Amearika is een lân fan kommunisten en prohibisjonisten mar Anne sjocht it net. Anne is opsletten. De trotskisten sjogge har net. De republikeinen hawwe nea har kin beknypt want sy is der net. Anne ferskûlet har binnen en teart roas nei roas op en út. Sy hat net ien. Sy hat Christopher. Se sitte yn in keamer en knipe yn poppenoazen, pjukke yn poppe-eagen. Ienris joegen se in pop in ritsje yn in pluzige toffel, mar dat gong te fier, wier te fier. Anne doarde net. Sy stoppe de toffel mei de pop deryn as yn in auto fuortdaalk yn de kast en treau de doar ticht.
Want Amearika is de koplampeman in de Ford-fabryk yn Detroit, Michigan, dy fan de triedden, dy fan de wite bol, de hiele dei, de hiele dei, it hiele jier, in jier lang koplampen, santich elke dei, troch automatisearring ferbettere, mar Anne net.
Want Amearika is in kompel yn Ohio, dy’t yn it tsjustere hoal glydt en elke nacht katte-eagen foar it ljocht hellet.
Want Amearika is inkeld dizze keamer… der is gjin nuttige beuzichheid.
Want foar Amearika binne inkeld dyn poppen plezierich.
Sixth Psalm
For America is a lady rocking on a porch in an unpainted house on an unused road but Anne does not see it.
For America is a librarian in Wichita coughing dust and sharing sourballs with the postman.
For America is Dr. Abraham passing out penicillin and sugar pills to the town of Woolrich, Pennsylvania.
For America is an old man washing his feet in Albion, Michigan. Drying them carefully and applying Dr. Scholl’s foot powder. But Anne does not see it. Anne is locked in.
For America is a reformed burglar turned locksmith who pulls up the shades of his shop at nine a.m. daily (except Sunday when he leaves his phone number on the shop door).
For America is a fat woman dusting a grand piano in English Creek, New Jersey.
For America is a suede glove manufacturer sitting in his large swivel chair feeling the goods and assessing his assets and debits.
For America is a bus driver in Embarrass, Minnesota, clocking the miles and watching the little cardboard suitcases file by.
For America is a land of Commies and Prohibitionists but Anne does not see it. Anne is locked in. The Trotskyites don’t see her. The Republicans have never tweaked her chin for she is not there. Anne hides inside folding and unfolding rose after rose. She has no one. She has Christopher. They sit in their room pinching the dolls’ noses, poking the dolls’ eyes. One time they gave a doll a ride in a fuzzy slipper but that was too far, too far wasn’t it. Anne did not dare. She put the slipper with the doll inside it as in a car right into the closet and pushed the door shut.
For America is the headlight man at the Ford plant in Detroit, Michigan, he of the wires, he of the white globe, all day, all day, all year, all his year’s headlights, seventy a day, improved by automation, but Anne does not.
For America is a miner in Ohio, slipping into the dark hole and bringing forth cat’s eyes each night.
For America is only this room . . . there is no useful activity.
For America only your dolls are cheerful.
O Ye Tongues [VI], út The Death Notebooks, 1974
Dr. Abraham – Edward Penley Abraham (1913–1999), in Ingelske biogemikus dy’t in grutte bydrage levere hat oan de ûntwikkeling fan de earste antibioatika: penisilline en sefalosporine.
Dr. Scholl’s – Amerikaanske firma yn skoechsel en fuotfersoargingsprodukten, opset yn 1906 troch William Matthias Scholl.