Mere shadows , Joumana Haddad

I pretend that I am myself

But unknown creatures live in me.

Eyes that are not mine see the world for me,

And other bodies walk about with my life.

I pretend that I am myself

But I am the known one, concealed.

Neither my mines have been discovered

Nor my metals polished.

What appears of me

Are mere shadows you cast

And they act for me.

They are mere ideas you invented.

You may think that I live here,

But I have not yet arrived, nor am I about to.

There is no space for me to cross toward you,

No moon to make an appointment with,

No night to descend from to daylight.

I pretend that I am myself

But in my inexistence I wander.

Laziness there continues to be an invitation,

Chaos is still shepherding the seasons.

Time there has not yet become time,

Nor forms have yet become forms.

Lips are lips by nature,

And clouds do not pursue their rains.

Free, I disappear in my mirage.

I have no identity to abstain from,

Nor a belonging to be threatened by.

I multiply until numbers get tired

And I am ignorant of them as is the sea of its names.

No one calls me,

No one knows me.

Only words

Slowly make me.

I pretend that I am with you all

But other creatures live in me.

And if I am not yet born

if my illusion has preceded me to you,

it is because I have preferred to be a little late

Until my moment arrives

And then those other creatures I have been will disappear

And I'll become myself.