ABSENCE

A CORRIGIR

ABSENCE

What I miss is everything that satisfies me, that could have satisfied me, that which I never had, that which I had and one day was gone, that slipped through my fingers, taking part of me with it far away.

There is an immense space that enraptures me, because in it I am free, but trapped by the solitude of the soul that fills me as a whole, floods and overflows…

Then, the complete absence comes from within me and leaves me with an emptiness, that burns my chest, that runs through my arteries and veins, cooling my entire body and entrails, giving me the sensation that I died yesterday…

Thus, this absence within me, that seems eternal, makes me feel so ephemeral, so mortal.

Paulo Rebelo, the poet doctor.