Formulas for oblivion

Daqui

1. Casting the first stone after which the hands cast
         themselves and the arms and so on until you feel
         you have cast yourself after the first stone
         into oblivion.

2. Eating your own words by which you will grow thin,
         depleted, finally, of even a mouth to care for
         the orphaned tongue or the tired foot.

3. Turning yourself inside out so the features you are
         known by become obvious secrets and the hidden
         parts of yourself become a mask of honesty.
         Thus you will never know who you are; oblivion
         has begun to tell you who you are

4. Lending the helping hand and keeping the other one
         to yourself. The helping hand will feed your
         friend, the other one will feel abandoned.
         What happens is clear: you lose your friend
         and die alone, a victim of the helping hand’s
         selfish refusal to aid the other one.

5. Cutting off your nose to spite your face. For the
         beauty of absence is catching and the face will
         want to spite the nose by having it back and then
         will beg to be cut off from it. This will go on.

6. Taking everything to heart and allowing yourself no
         rest but what is impossible to take, which is
         oblivion.

7. Killing the thing you love and spending each night
         with its ghost. Forcing your passion into an
         absence is a common approach to oblivion.

8. Sticking your head in the lion’s mouth and seeing
         the remnants of your past: the tongue of your
         father, the teeth of your mother, your own head
         grinning back.

9. Saving the best for last while consuming the worst
         at the start. For the worst tastes better when
         you know the best is to come. Doubts will arise.
         After a while you may not believe the best will
         be last and oblivion will take you for better
         or worse.

10. Giving yourself the benefit of the doubt which is the
         surest and truest formula for oblivion.

                 Mark Strand