Page 190

A handwritten racial annotation sits above a compressed lament in which children, steps, distance, truth, lost song, and terrible chance mark a world whose delight has quietly thinned out.

The economy is still the point, but the handwritten word changes the page's pressure. It makes the typed lament feel socially specific rather than only general or nostalgic.

Seven lines: children on steps have lost the fun; distance and truth have lost their song. Terrible chance — it was like this all along.