Selva Part II

It’s a sad one
 the Canto about Suicides
transformed into trees
                      the harpies nesting in their branches
 feeding upon them. 

   In Blake’s drawings
inside some wood
they are labelled self-murderers.
In the Inferno it’s a selva
the next step beyond a forest
in terms of uneasiness. 

Since entering the selva
Dante barely manages to keep standing.
I, throughout, distended
but continuing to keep my promise. 

Sometimes I feel like a harpy.
I have sympathy for the strawberry
but I am very hungry
and the options are limited.

In translating this journey
I am both eating and eaten one