MS-HRC-SB-5-10

[1603] end, Worm no longer is.[1604] We know it, but we don't say it, we
say it's the awakening, the beginning of Worm, for now we must
speak, and speak of Worm.[1605] It's no longer he, but let us proceed
as if it were still he, ^{he at last}, who hears, and trembles, and is delivered
over, to affliction, and the struggle to withstand it, the
starting eye, the labouring mind.

[1606] Yes, let us call that thing
Worm, so as to exclaim, the sleight of hand accomplished, Oh
look, life again, life evrywhere and always, the life that is
on every tongue, the only possible![1607] Po^or Worm, who thought he
was di^fferent, there he is in the madhouse for ^life.[1608] Where am I?
[1609] That is my first question, after ^{[⁁] an age} of listening.[1610] From it,
when it hasn't be answered, I'll rebound towards ^others, of a
more personal nature, much later.

[1611] Perhaps I'll end up, before
returning to ^regaining my coma, by thinking of myself as living, technically
speaking.[1612] But let us proceed with method.[1613] I shall do my best, as
always, since I cannot do otherwise.[1614] I shall submit, more corpse-
obliging than ever.[1615] I shall transmit the words as receiv-
ed, by the ear, or roared through a trumpet into the arsehole,
in all their purity, and in the ^same order, as far as possible.

[1616] This infinitesimal hesitation, between the arrival and the de-
parture, this slight delay in evacuation, is all
I have to worry about.[1617] The truth about me will boil forth at
last, ^{and scald me,} provided they don't start stuttering again.[1618] I listen.
[1619] Eⁿough procrastination.[1620] I'm Worm, that is to say I am no longer
he, since suddenly I hear.[1621] But I'll forget that in the heat of
misery, I'll forget I am no longer Worm, but a kind of tenth^-rate
Toussaint Louverture, that's what they counting on.

[1622] Worm then
I catch this sound that will never stop, monotonous beyond
words, and yet not altogether devoid of a certain variety.
At the end of I know ^not what eternity, they don't say, this has
sufficiently exasperated my intelligence for it to grasp that
the nuisance is a voice and that ^{the realm of} nature^, in which I may
flatter myself already I have a foot ^has other noises ^{to
[⁁] offer which are} even more unpleasant, ^and will ^{not fail to} make themselves heard before

[1623] At the end of I know ^not what eternity, they don't say, this has
sufficiently exasperated my intelligence for it to grasp that
the nuisance is a voice and that ^{the realm of} nature^, in which I may
flatter myself already I have a foot ^has other noises ^{to
[⁁] offer which are} even more unpleasant, ^and will ^{not fail to} make themselves heard before