Before the Commission. They never wept, the men of my race -- None more parted than us. First hearings. Bereaved and dumb, the high southern air succumbs -- The narrative of betrayal has to be reinvented every time -- The sound of the second narrative -- The wet bag and other phantoms -- Two women: let us hear it in another language -- Guilt is on the move with all her mantles. Politics. The political page curls over itself -- Reconciliation: the lesser of two evils -- Amnesty: in transit with the ghosts -- The political tongue at anchor. Reactions. Blood rains in every latitude -- Letters on the acoustics of scars -- It gets to all of us -- from Tutu to Mamasela -- Truth is a women -- Then burst the mighty heart. Unwinding. The shepherd and the landscape of my bones -- A tragedy of errors -- Mother faces the nation -- Beloved country of grief and grace.