Becoming a Book

Howard Schwartz

"When writers die they become books, which is, after all, 

 not too bad an incarnation（化身，典型）." 

                                           -- Jorge Luis Borges

            for Ben Furnish 

All these years, 

 without knowing it, 

 I've been preparing for my rebirth 

 as a book. 

Each day 

 I try to condense（浓缩，凝结） 

 light and darkness 

 into one more page. 

At night 

 I count the pages left 

 before it's time 

 to come back. 

Now that my destiny is known,

 we need not say goodbye. 

 I'll be there guarding you 

 from a shelf.