Since the Moment I Was BornSince the moment of my birth I’ve borne you
inside me, growing with me more than living
flesh, day after day, together clinched
and nailed to these spare bones, you and I
never relenting, but you far stronger,
you who increase in hunger as you feed,
destroying every thought, every hope,
and when I fall asleep you’re more awake
and find yourself the mistress of it all.
So every day, every passing minute,
without a rest, without turning back,
since the time I was born between the two of us
there’s been a war that I can never win:
though breathlessly, never yielding, soaked
with sweat and fear and without hope, I try
to build a refuge. And you keep laughing
o my accursed death.
(Translated by Novella Bonaffini)