I stepped back from my death
it was strange and inhuman to me
*
and now my eyes are knives slicing the night to
split the mist
rising inside
like the tears of a poem
shedding its sadness
over the warm flight of egrets
flitting about
after the docile defeat
*
now my eyes are knives slicing the mist like a di-vi-ded body
I stepped back from my death
and rose up
clandestine
syllable by syllable
almost like the unwritten poem
and suddenly
hair tousled by days of abandon
I find your discontent
in a commonplace dress
the furled poetic fabric
that switches the body on
to disarray
in a song without refrain
some fruit scattered
in the rush to ripen
these mineral days
I want to climb beyond the reach of words
where my death will not be
the death of others too
even if I see my sorrow in yours
and then I don’t.
Originally published in the April 2019 issue of Words Without Borders. From Vácuos © Mbate Pedro. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2019 by Sandra Tamele and Eric M. B. Becker. All rights reserved.