Liber Neptuni - Chapter 47

Verses

Verse 29

At the market of sleeping people I sold a woman a dream in which her dead lover had forgotten to die.

Verse 30

She returned the next night and asked for the same dream with better weather.

Verse 31

I warned her that repetition turns miracles into rent.

Verse 32

She paid in a memory of rain on a house that no longer existed.

Verse 33

I kept the memory in a blue bottle beside the counterfeit moons.

Verse 34

One evening Neptune entered the market disguised as a musician who knew only unfinished songs.

Verse 35

Every mirror fogged when he passed, except the cracked one.

Verse 36

The woman heard his music and mistook longing for a direction.

Verse 37

I followed because jinn are old enough to know better and rarely improved by age.

Verse 38

We came to a door painted on water.

Verse 39

She crossed it. I could not decide whether she vanished or arrived.

Verse 40

The musician bowed and asked payment.

Verse 41

I gave him the blue bottle containing her memory of rain.

Verse 42

He opened it, and somewhere in a dead city one roof became wet.

Verse 43

Since then I sell fewer dreams and keep more questions.