POETRY
REVELATIONS
Concerning the man who threw himself from the 62nd floor
of Kree-Kastell on Broadway and whose name was Benson
He died of shock!
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He was a coward! At the moment that he had already begun to fall,
he became frightened to see the enormous space below him. Only
his body fell. He, Benson, drew back, remained in mid-air at
about the height of the 59th floor or between the 59th and 60th
and watched the body which descended, descended, completed its
descent and landed in pieces. Then, slowly, Benson (the soul of
Benc.:on) begins to descend, sees his body from close-up and that
it is no longer habitable ; he begins to watch the crowd with an
air of embarrassment-the policeman writing in his notebook and
the people leaving the scene with one story to tell at home
that evening.
Yes, Benson is a coward. But incredible will power is necessary when
one is falling to stay in one's body, in spite of the impending
smash of tissues.
Oh, a prodigious will power.
Sometimes the fall is made only from the third floor, and. the body
is less damaged.
The doctor proceeds with artificial respiration and tells himself that
he will restore to life this poor bugger of a patient; he will restore
him! But his soul has already withdrawn and it is like trying
to make a raincoat breathe.
It happens also that the soul regrets
his
cowardice. He goes skulking
around the body, judges it to be still in satisfactory condition,
slips inside, rapidly tries different positions of concordance, at
last wedges himself into the body which immediately begins
breathing. And the doctor smiles as he mops himself off.
HENRI MICHAUX
(Translated from the French by Richard D. Ellman)
