Insomnia

Insomnia 

I was tormented

by the immense desolation

with which Aureliano’s ghost

had looked at me, the deep nostalgia

which that specter felt for the living

was as touching as my dream

of a city with mirrors for walls.

Months later when he finally

showed up again, he came to my window

with the disease of insomnia.  In his bones

he had the forgetfulness of death.     

His thoughts, monsoons of darkness,

were lying to me, imbedding in my limp skin

hopes of a new beginning where our numbers

increased from two to four, and wild dreams

strangled my roots like a banyan

with handfuls of hate.