before my skin gives way,
before my eyes drown in discharge,
before my arteries keep deflating
with clots and glucose.
I’m urged to divest myself of the shadows
that have cleaved to me
and choose the sacred contract with the dead:
I’ll be there soon.
Book me a place
where nobody asks me anything
But above all,
don’t introduce me to myself.
Translated by Paricia Gatt