LXI

Besides the cathedral,
at Orvieto there is
a second tourist attraction.

It is a well.
The Pozzo di San Patrizio
was built by Pope Clement VII

to supply the town with water
in case of a siege.
It is over 62 meters deep.

There are 248 comfortable steps
from the top to the bottom of the well: 248 spiral back up
They are not the same steps.


LXII

Designed concentrically
the two staircases fit

one within the other

like a jackknife blade
within a jackknife,
so that two people

one coming up,
the other going down,
can never meet.

Anne Carson: Glass, Irony and God