When They Informed Him

When they informed him he was being watched,
that at night when he went out
someone with an extra key searched his room
looked in the medicine cabinet
and in the suspicious manuscripts;
when they informed him that dozens of policemen
were assigned to his case,
that they had bribed his closest relatives,
that his intimate friends
hid their commas and scribblings
in their private parts,
he wasn't scared,
just barely irritated
which he instantly corrected.
He thought: They are not going
to get me to think I am that important.

Poem by Reinaldo Arenas

Translated by Jaime Manrique
Published in The World Magazine