LXXXVI
TO MY VULTURE
This hungry vulture, with his severe
frown who voraciously devours my entrails
and consumes my sorrows with his curved
beak, is my only constant companion.
When the day comes that he is ready
to drink the last swallow of my blood,
I want to be completely alone with him
for a moment, without anyone to disturb us.
In my final agony, when he takes the last
bite of my innards, I want to have the pleasure
of seeing his expression of surprise
when he sees the fate which awaits him:
being without the prey with which he has sated
his atrocious hunger which will never end.
Salamanca, 26 October 1910.
Miguel de Unamuno
Translation by Armand F. Baker