JUAN

This time it’s worse than before

    even though I never imagined such a thing

    could be possible

    pain worse than death

    here I am,

    still alive

    but sharing this locked room

    with the dead

She made them lock me inside this dark place

    all alone

    with no one but these cadavers

    for company

    dead bodies everywhere

    cold and naked, all of us,

    in a land of heat

    where we should be outdoors

    covered with green growing blankets of leaves

    in this land of flowers and birds

    paradise

    except for the shackles

    and eyes

    so many eyes

    eyes of the dead

    staring

        staring

            staring

Do they know?

    Do they hate me?

    Can they see

    that I am

    still alive

    just barely?

Bodies seem to rise all around me

    roaming the room

    back and forth

So I stand

    afraid to lie down

    close my eyes

    rest

A broken shutter bangs

    I hear water

    a river

    a ditch

    a torrent falling over a cliff

Each time the shutter opens

    I imagine that one more spirit

    has entered

    this room

Each time it slams shut I know that I am trapped

    just one more visible example

    of death