Victoria Guerrero

Lazarus

One death is not enough
--Quasimodo

I find myself in the middle of the desert.
I destroyed all the borders,
but I didn't see
anyone or anything.
Everybody was long dead.

The days go by as if time
had a will of its own.
At times I think the clock turns back
because I see myself doing
what I did tomorrow.

I wish I could go back to those
four days
when I was happy.
Then
I would cut off the tongues of Mary and Martha
without a slight pang.

I broke all the laws.
I killed, fornicated,
and stole.
I never observed the Passover.
However much I blamed myself,
nobody believed me.
I tried all sorts of ways
to die,
but I beat death every time.

I'm plotting
to escape the earth
with a chisel.

I don't know what else to do.

I'm the only man
with too many lives.

-- Translated from the Spanish by Toshiya Kamei