WHERE I BECOME YOU (2.)

2.

your vowels die passing me
so close that I
could have been the one

endless the static cargo of stars
that sputtering in the night shackles us

but you that I could have been
but was not yet, you shuffle
stubbornly you sift to bestowed profusion

each leaf that falls
falls alone, I counter

your face grinds to a halt

I want
the I that is I
to stay

but where
does it begin,
this being-I?

at the place
where the I is like you
or there where the I is other than you?

my tongue goes deaf
your eyes coo from the sockets of the lost ones
just a breathlick of light
pomegranate pip light
between where I-am is
and not-you is

I decay – grit in the throat
your vowels die passing
so close
that my eyelid welds itself to your love

WHERE I BECOME YOU (2.)

2.

jou vokale sterf by my verby
so naby dat dit ek
kon gewees het

oneindig die statiese lading van sterre
wat spetterend snags boeie aan ons slaan

maar jy wat ek kon gewees het
maar nog nie was nie, jy skuifel
hardnekkig skif jy tot toebedeelde veelsaamheid

elke blaar wat val
val alleen, weerlê ek

jou gesig knars tot stilstand

ek wil
die ek wat ek is
bly

maar waar
begín
die issende-ek?

op die plek
waar die ek soos jy is
of daar waar die ek anders as jy is?

my tong word doof
jou oë kirr uit die oogholtes van die verlorenes
net ’n asemlek blink
granaatpitblink
tussen waar ek-is is
en jy-nie is

ek vergaan – grint in die keel
jou vokale sterf hier verby
so naby
dat my ooglid aan jou liefde smee