If he had seen her
seen her mortal form tonight
open the fridge door wide
almost bundle her body into it
into that nave of brightness
dumbly drinking milk
as spirits drink blood
ghostlike even to herself
athirst for white and dazzled by
the glare of steel and iron
her fingers burnt by ice
he would have said it wasn’t her. Not
the one whom dying I left
so she could live on in my place.
—Translated by Jamie McKendrick
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