1. Visitors
by John Cranna

2. My Grandfather was a large man with a strong laugh who grew Pomegranates for Pleasure...

4. ...but for reasons that only gradually became clear to me, and were certainly never clear to him...

5. But for reasons that only gradually became clear to me, and were certainly never clear to him

6. ...it was sometimes felt necessary to strap him to a bed...

7. It was sometimes felt necessary to strap him to a bed

8. ...and apply electric shocks to his head.

9. and apply Electric shocks to his head

10. My Grandfather had… collected musical instruments from around the pacific

11. My Grandfather had...collected musical Instruments from around the Pacific
...a great Javanese Gamelean… a chilean Lute...

12. I could hear the instruments in their other lives talk to me… it lodged in my chest as a kind of ecstasy

13. I could hear the instruments in their other lives talk to me… it lodged in my chest as a kind of ecstasy

14. In the orchard, my Grandfather’s pomegranates had reached their full maturity.

15. In the orchard my grandfather’s pomegranates had reached their full maturity
The day had come to taste the first of the fruit

16. The day had come to taste the fruit

18. [I was] unable to take my eyes from the stain of the juice on the white tablecloth

19. At the edge of the orchard, standing very still and watching us intently was a Pale Suit…
[I was] unable to take my eyes from the stain of the juice on the white table-cloth.

20. Then I went inside to where the stomach bow hung on the wall
Then I went inside to where the stomach bow hung on the wall. I concentrated on the instrument.
Nothing

21. Then I went inside to where the stomach bow hung on the wall
Then I went inside to where the stomach bow hung on the wall. I concentrated on the instrument, listening for the hum of its fibre string. Nothing

22. When I saw the orchard I stopped
When I saw the orchard I stopped. Not a single pomegranate remained on the trees. In the middle of the orchard...
was my Grandfather

23. When I saw the orchard I stopped
When I saw the orchard I stopped. Not a single Pomegranate remained on the trees. In the middle of the orchard...was my grandfather.

24. FREED at last from the intolerable burden of his memories

25. FREED at last from the intolerable burdens of his memories

26. I could not stay to watch the final decline of the house.
I could see my grandfather wandering through it’s empty rooms.

27. I could not stay to watch the final decline of the house.
I saw my grandfather wandering through its empty rooms...

28. …I set off for the mountains that night.

29. I set off for the mountains that night