"True Name"

Desert I shall name this castle that you were,
This voice, Night, your face, Absence,
And when you fall in the sterile earth
I shall name nothingness the flash which bore you.

Dying is a land you used to love. I come
But eternally by your somber ways.
I destroy your desire, your form, your memory,
I am your enemy who has no pity.

I shall name you War and I shall take
Upon you the liberties of war and I shall have
In my hands your face dark and travelled,
In my heart this land that the storm illumines.

--Yves Bonnefoy (my tr)