The Small Wooden Box
Within the torso just beneath the right side of the ribcage, and a few inches lower than the heart is a small wooden box
the purpose of which—
I suppose is to keep things in.
For example, one might place in it a couple of coins to jingle, keeping cadence as he walks, or a meaningful prayer kept close to her heart. A story is told of a monk who lined the bottom of his with a mirror, and gazed in on its hollowness.
Lovers sometimes open each of theirs, putting the lid of one to the base of the other. Most people fill theirs with tiny trinkets, loaded ‘til they almost won’t close--but mine for a time was empty.
Why hadn’t I heard of this before?
The other night I lay with nothing but the night around me, in which stillness I could feel this object burning there, neglected.
I got out of bed this morning, my door still closed, and I took it out to open it. I watched flecks of dust fall into its mouth. They hit the bottom one by one. Now they fall to it faster and faster.