another night where everything is calm, not a sound, nothing
besides your regular breathing, beside me
another night without sleep, without reason, just
a mass of slightly vague objects scattered everywhere
so, we keenly feel the ends of the bed and the walls
folding in, closing in on what, exactly, we don’t know
so, we keenly feel our hands tensing and relaxing
heading towards, closing in on who, exactly, we don’t know
then the next day without history, like all the others 1
we look out the bay windows surrounding us
no surprise the sea is calm
we were wrong to hope to see a gust of wind rise up
so we keenly feel the ends of things breaking apart2
then disintegrating, then crashing down on something 3
so we keenly feel our bodies tensing and relaxing
approaching and then collapsing on who, exactly, we don’t know
the afternoon passes without strife, without incident
no risk of seeing the storm erupt
so, we keenly feel the end of everything approaching
unfolding and then erasing what, exactly, we don’t know
so, we keenly feel our bodies tensing and relaxing
detaching, heading towards where, exactly, we don’t know
1. French “histoire” can mean either “history” or “story.” So “a day without history” could be just “an uneventful day.”2. “Se fendre” is be cut or broken into pieces or strips.3. “S’effriter” is to turn into dust. “S’écrouler” seems to mean both “to fall hard” and “to be completely destroyed or meet a brutal end.” So, the sense of this and the last line is of something breaking up into smaller and smaller pieces, finally being obliterated as it crashes on something.