And to contend with the whole world is a comfort, but to contend with oneself is dreadful. 

                                                                                            – Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling

I carried their first EP in my schoolbag,

the cover embossed with bronze Hebrew

characters, an enigmatic rarity

that I unveiled when we seized the stereo

in the sixth-form common room, or invited

ourselves into the music department

during lunchtimes and free periods, in-between

orchestra and jazz band rehearsals.

‘Formless and empty’, a favoured way of being

we were in search of, the days ruled by the bell,

timetables and crisis; the corridors,

the main drive and dining hall were replete with

an ignorance that we drowned out

with our latest revelations on mixtapes

and CDs at fearful, teacher-summoning

volume … and, lo, they trembled.