* * *
when i wake up
i don't know who i am
and i don’t know who i’m supposed to be
there is a fiction
for the convenience of others
i have learned to assume poses
in which i have stiffened my body
i am for a moment
between awakening and fear
though i cannot speak
i feel and i miss
but i have nothing
then the day again
choked breath heart
i’m gone
sometimes i shine for a moment
with the reflected light of your attention
then i am extinguished again
i died half a lifetime ago
i can’t resurrect
behind this glass i have stifled myself
becoming an adult nobody
i can go anywhere
i have nowhere to go
18.VII.13, Waterloo; transl. from Polish: 14.I.23, Brzeźno