III

“Römische Sarkophage”

Was aber hindert uns zu glauben, daß
(so wie wir hingesstellt sind und verteilt)
nicht eine kleine Zeit nur Drang und Haß
und dies Verwirrende in uns verweilt,

wie einst in dem verzierten Sarkophag
bein Ringen, Götterbildern, Gläsern, Bändern,
in langsam sich verzehrenden Gewändern
ein langsam Aufgelöstes lag—

bie es die unbekannten Munde schluckten,
die niemals reden. (Wo besteht und denkt
ein Hirn, um ihrer einst sich zu bedienen?)

Da wurde von den alten Aqädukten
ewiges Wasser in sie eingelenkt—:
das spiegelt jetzt und geht und glänzt in ihnen.

—By Rainer Maria Rilke

II

Only when reading the German do I see the phage in sarcophagus, only a few letters removed from esophagus, only then do I think of the eaters of the dead, and so it is that those swallowing mouths (line nine) make perfect elegant sense.

The 5th century BC Greek historian, Herodotus, noted that early sarcophagi (the plural) were carved from a special kind of rock that consumed the flesh of the corpse inside. In particular, coffins made of a limestone from Assus in the Troad known as lapis Assius had the property of consuming the bodies placed within them, and therefore was also called sarkophagos lithos (flesh-eating stone). All coffins made of limestone have this property to a greater or lesser degree, and the name eventually came to be applied to stone coffins in general.

Far removed from a bacteriophage.

But with the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria in hospitals and elsewhere one wonders whether phage therapy, little developed in the West during the Cold War but studied in the East, might gain prominence.

Today I had little contact with phages—that I know of—though a bit more to do with bacteria, but more, in fact, with yeast, as a continuation of a loaf begun last night around one in the morning.

The recipe for no-knead bread, adapted from Jim Lahey, is easy enough to make, but since it differs from how I normally make bread and it was the first time I was making it, I was not sure what to expect or how to judge the stages.

Not phages.

The recipe itself, reproduced below, is direct:

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
• 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

Directions:

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

If one googles for no-knead bread one finds not only the recipe at the NY Times but the original article (“The Secret of Great Bread: Let Time Do the Work”) from November 8, 2006, as well as pages at Slashfood, a blog entry at apartment therapy, another by foodies Becks & Posh, and many others out there.

Having baked, cooled, and now tried the loaf this evening, I can now report that it is a worthwhile and easy enterprise, and the result is tasty.

Likewise enjoyable to consume are reruns of Alias; I've watched the whole series twice now, I suppose, and am working my way slowly through the seasons again as a means of procrastination. Alas, in Alias it's time for season 3, which means Melissa George as Lauren Reed. Much secrecy, double-crossing, and bag wigs ensue.

I promise to finish the Fforde ... I meant to today, but I got distracted by the baking and the reruns. Only 100 pages to go.

And neither phages nor sarcophagi ...

III

“Roman Sarcophagi”

Why should we too, though, not anticipate
(set down here and assigned our places thus)
that only for a short time rage and hate
and this bewildering will remain in us,

as in the ornate sarcophagus, enclosed
with images of gods, rings, glasses, trappings,
there lay in slowly self-consuming wrappings
something being slowly decomposed—

till swallowed by those unknown mouths at last,
that never speak. (Where bides a brain that may
yet trust the utterance of its thinking to them?)

Then from the ancient aqueducts there passed
eternal water into them one day:—
that mirrors now and moves and sparkles through them.

—Translated by J.B. Leishman