MS-HRC-SB-5-9-2

[1606] the sleight of hand accomplished, Look,
life again, life everywhere and always,
the life that is on every tongue, the only possible!
[1607] Poor Worm, who thought he was different,
there he is in the madhouse for life.[1608] Where
am I?[1609] That is my first question, after a
life of listening.

[1610] From this question,
when it hasn't been answered, I'll rebound
towards others, of a more personal nature,
much later.[1611] Perhaps I'll end up, before
returning to my coma, by thinking of myself
as living, technically speaking.[1612] But let us
But let us pro-
ceed 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 received, by
the ear, or roared into the anus, through a
trumpet, in all their purity, and in the same
order, as far as possible.

[1616] This ^{infinitesimal} hesitation,
between the arrival and the departure, this minute
delay in the matter of evacuation, is all I have
to worry about.[1617] The truth about me will boil forth
at last, provided they start stuttering again.
[1618] I listen.[1619] Enough procrastination!

[1620] I am
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 which
will never stop, monotonous
beyond words, and yet at the same time not
devoid of a certain variety.

[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 here we
have a voice and that, in the natural world in
^which already I may flatter myself on having
a foot, there are other noises even more un-
pleasant, which will make themselves heard
before long.

[1624] Don't tell me after that
that I had no predispositions for the common lot.
[1625] What a weary road since that first misfortune!
[1626] What nerves torn alive from the heart of insentience,
with the appertaining fears, and the cerebellum
on fire.[1627] It took him a long time
to adapt himself to this excoriation.

[1628] To
realize that bah it's nothing.[1629]
A trifle.

[1630] The common lot.[1631] A joke.
[1632] That will not last for ever.[1633] To be enjoyed while
it lasts.[1634] They mentioned roses to me.[1635] I'll end
up by smelling them, that's the way it goes.
[1636] Then they'll put the accent on the thorns.
[1637] What prodigious variety.[1638] Thorns, these they'll