Hoffmann's Nightmare

A puppet, on strings of habit and expectation
turns to me
and says

“Ah, ah.”

“What is the sigh?” I ask
“Tell me
and with my gentle hands
I will heal you”

But the puppet
she says

“Ah, ah.”

“Does it mean pain?
Like a thorn in the side?
A hook in the heart?”

With body unscathed
she says

“Ah, ah.”

“Sadness?
Like a dying rose,
A broken wing?”

With tearless eyes
she says

“Ah, ah.”

She lifts up wooden
string-pulled hands
to open up her chest
like a door
on creaky hinges

I begin to shake and sob.
Inside her chest
there is nothing

“Ah, ah.” she says “Ah, ah.”