In a variant from Trebizond the master mason hears a voice asking him: “What will you give me to keep the wall from falling again?” He answers: “Mother and daughter I can have no longer, but wife I can and perhaps I shall find a better one.”
—Mircea Eliade, “Master Manole and the Monastery of Arges,” The Walled-Up Wife: A Casebook
The three agree not to tell—let the first arriving wife
be buried. The eldest king warns his wife, don’t come—
the construction site—will kill you, says the middle king.
The youngest king confesses nothing. Married to fate—
he prays to god and lays down with their baby between
them; a wall of new flesh bars his hands from touching
his wife. Full moon, the world shines as a blue-tinted
day. He can’t sleep. Come morning, the youngest wife
goes to her sisters, who tell her they are sick with a pain
that cannot heal. They ask, bring the men their meals. Theirs
plus hers—three times a regular load, she objects: But I
must bathe my infant son, must wash his fine white clothes, must
The queens reply: My dear young sister, go at once, / And
bring the men their daily meal. / For we will wash your son’s
white clothes, / And bathe with care your infant son.
Nicelle Davis is a California poet who walks the desert with her son J.J. Her most recent collection, The Walled Wife, will be released from Red Hen Press in spring 2016. In the Circus of You is available from Rose Metal Press. She is the author of two other books of poetry, Becoming Judas and Circe. She is editor-at-large of The Los Angeles Review. Her poetry film collaborations with Cheryl Gross have been viewed across the world.