poliphilo | Coming Down The Long Straight Road

I dreamed we were taking a young girl into care- only her father came too; he was very young and as white as paper with a nose that was not so much broken as collapsed- with nothing of its internal structure left- only the stretched skin- like that of a mummified cadaver. As we drove away two girls closed off the road ahead of us with wire mesh gates. It was a very narrow road, only wide enough for a single vehicle- and they said the gypsies were coming. I looked around and saw there were people sitting on the waste ground- among tents and parked cars- waiting for their families to arrive. I looked up the long straight road, eager to see the approaching caravans, but there was nothing yet.

Although I understood these were gypsies what I actually heard was giaours- which is a Turkish word meaning infidels...