forever there - pierre reverdy

Forever There
by Pierre Reverdy (tr. Michael Benedikt)

I have a need not to encounter myself anymore and to forget
   about everything
To speak with people I've never known
To shout without being heard
For absolutely no actual reason and in utter isolation
I know the whole world step by step down to the last
I want to tell my whole life's story without anyone there to
   overhear
Heads and eyes all turn away from me
Toward night
My head is a heavy full ball
Rolling across the earth making barely a sound


Vast distance
Nothing in front of me nothing behind me
In the emptiness into which I descend
A few gusts of air
Blowing around me
Cruel and cold
These come from doors only half-closed
On memories still not quite forgotten
The world is interrupted like some pendulum
And everybody is is suspended for eternity
Like a spider an aviator slides down along a wire
Everybody dances around weightlessly
Between sky and earth
But a single light-ray escaped
From a lamp you forgot to put out
On the landing
No it's not over
We're not finished yet with forgetting
And I still have the need to get to know myself just a little bit
   better