Breath, and the act of breathing

Day by day, the more I've come to know people, the more I've understood:
we don't see humans as they truly are.
In our society, it's terribly difficult
to find the warm presence of simple, selfless souls.

To keep company with people, to take them along,
to transform all their griefs and sorrows into strength
and pour out love unstintingly—this is truly hard.

Since I first saw you, learning and understanding you little by little,
I find myself truly enchanted.

Gathering all the willpower of my nerves,
my heart wants only to trust in you.
With great courage, staying by your side,
my heart wants to become someone you can believe in.

Fleeing from the uncertainties of faith, far and near,
I want only to shelter in your trust.
Even my own small faith I want to deposit with you alone.

Standing beside someone, never, even by mistake,
break their trust in you.

If some sudden new bond should pull at you,
don't pretend not to know me anymore.

Bewitched by someone else's spell,
don't wound me deep and intimately.

Standing face to face suddenly,
don't speak of leaving, of separation.

Busy with new celebrations of love,
don't spread colorless silence across my vision.

Casting tearless glances again and again,
never think my feelings trivial.

I already carry—
a blood-red hunger in my heart from daily, relentless pain!
Some perpetual burning, and in my chest a mountain-sized, marked oblivion!

Don't add to these
any portion of your hatred, any fragment of your neglect.

If you do,
you'll never know when I die in some dreamless wasteland.

If I should die in such a place,
know this: that death will make you weep for two long moments.