VICTOR SEGALENMy dwelling is strong. I make my way inside. Behold me there. And now close the
door, and wall up the space before it. Bar the road to all the living.
I am without any wish to return, without regrets, without haste and without
breath. I am not su√ocating. I do not lament. I rule with gentleness and my
dark palace is pleasing.
Indeed death is agreeable and noble and sweet. A place one can dwell in. I dwell
in death and I am content there.
But let that little peasant village over there survive. I wish to savor the smoke
from their evening fires.
And I shall listen to words.
—mary ann caws and patricia terry
Out of Respect
Characters omitted out of respect.Out of respect for what cannot be said, no one is ever again to reveal the word
glory or commit the character happiness.
Let them even be e√aced from all memory: by these signs the Prince has chosen
to identify his reign.
Let them no longer exist.
***Silence, the worthiest homage! What fury of love ever filled the depths of silence?
What dazzling brushstroke would dare the gesture that she, in her innocence,
imagines.
No! let her reign in me be secret. Let it never come to pass. Let it even be
forgotten: let her name never flower within my deepest self,
Out of respect.
—mary ann caws and patricia terry