III

WHY I'M LONELY

Not for the sake of departing
but for caring for the secret.
I'm my own fear.

It's not out of pride or disdain,
but of hunger for knowledge.
I'm the pick and the wall.

What fixes the others
isn't enough for me; being amazed.
I'm my own pilot.

I'd like to die having
been a poet, a carpenter,
a painter, philosopher, lover, and bullfighter.

Ah! and a black jazz
singer who I feel
through ten layers underground.