Day X

Here, he said handing me a fox pelt,
Everything must go.
Start with the books -
Take down the books
And go through them.

Startled I awoke.

Why the fox pelt?
But moreover, why the books?

Which books?  Where?
What could be hidden?
Tomorrow I will start
Volume by volume
Dust jacket by dust jacket
Endsheet by endsheet
page by page,

Searching for traces, any trace,
of him who gave me the books.

Or must I read them?