Gnosticism VI
by Anne Carson, from Decreation

Walking the wild mountain in a storm I saw the great trees throw their arms.
Ruin! they cried and seemed aware

the sublime is called a “science of anxiety.”
What do men and women know of it? — at first

not even realizing they were naked!
The language knew.

Watch “naked” (arumim) flesh slide into “cunning” (arum) snake in the next verse.

And suddenly a vacancy, a silence,

is somewhere inside the machine.
Veins pounding.