The keeper of the key of K

Largo

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This key that keeps coming off the chain,
that blackens the hand of those who
flick their wrists and send this key
flying into the potato plants
which grow to amuse us all:

it is found only by virtue of its shine and size
(which are not virtues to the captive)
nor is it found, but lies rusting
among potato plants, as the captive pines
behind the door that the
keeper of the key has locked
first from the inside, then from the outside,
spinning all the while the now neglected chain
around the unblackened wrist,
not knowing that the key has parted from the chain
and rests now in the captive's clammy hands:

it is turned - the lock is rusty -
at last the door flies open
after ten turns of the key of K.

The keeper keeps the chain.
The captive is released, and keeps the key.

Dennis List