F E A R

Fear: apprehension, dread, terror… I sit for hours, listening to the sounds of war, surrounded by dictionaries, and make lists of words that have suddenly become part of my existence. Vandalism, barbarism, slaughter… My foolish mind thinks that, armed with words, I am protected from all the horrors around me. A fugitive from reality, I find shelter in a foreign language. How do you say sorrow in different languages? Life? Death? Sea? I strain my eyes in the feeble candlelight, leafing through dictionaries and making lists of these words, as if my life depended on it.