and then he looks down at the floor in that way he has and when Åsleik looks down in that way it’s like he isn’t looking down, it’s like he’s looking up, like he’s looking at everything all together, like he’s seeing a big context without being clear about it and then something comes over his face, yes, it’s like he is suddenly falling out of this evil world and into a still and peaceful clearing or clarity, an area of stillness, of light, yes, of shining darkness, because it’s like he’s fallen out of himself, out of where he usually is, like he no longer knows himself, like he’s gone, away from himself, as he stands there looking down with a light that’s like what the sky can give off, together with the clouds, when that’s what the light wants to do, yes, a light like that comes from him, the kind of light that can come from a dog too, from a dog’s eyes, yes, that happens a lot, when I think about it I’ve often seen that strange light coming from a dog’s eyes (The Other Name)

I hurried to the spinet desk, I put the dippen in the violet ink, I praised the Lord almost, though my Lord you must understand I see as a kind of doglike man with a sad face Who watches the gate here, He never says anything to me, He knows my suffering, and He knows that my buddies are not as dead as I, and He knows I must walk upon the earth for a spell before going down into the total mulberry night. (In a Shallow Grave)