Brief Discourse in the Style of Edmond Jabes.

    my tree the aloe
   my flower the crack in the cactus
   my river none in my land
   my universe desert basalt
   my entourage camelids
   my weapon the dagger's blade
   my shadow is rangy
   survival is my life's work
   essential
   my landscape the changeless horizon
   the dust stirred up by sheepskin soles
   the territory still
   before me
   my guide the desert
   my text the sky
   each evening regained
   my word each stone
   each flint
   my dream always the same:
   nomad fathered
   in economy most austere ... 

from the French