empty-bodied men left pieces of themselves everywhere
they walk to work, left their face in bed
they come home, they don’t like the face they shed
it doesn’t fit
it doesn’t feel like me
get me out of this house
away from these children
mine
this country
I’m in this body
keeping my language
keeping my dialect
I bury a country within me that doesn’t exist anymore
not for me
I created a new world
that I’m not a part of
my children pull me in
and I discard them
I don’t know what they want from me
I don’t want anything from them
I am alone
I stand abandoned
I don’t belong
I’m in my head
she looks at me
and sees that I want to leave
and I do
and I do
and I do
but I always come back
because death sent me here
in the first place
I’m told that here
I’m supposed to live
and I keep my children by my side
when nobody is looking
because I’m a boy
hunted
who can’t stay alone
and they keep me company
and I don’t say a word
they grow up and become strangers
and I recognise myself
before I turned into myself
Croque-Melpomene 