A chamber

Each ring of the telephone

Each letter on the doorstep

Each knock unwished

On the door

Makes him start and tremble

Each look

Everything makes him quiver

Because he no longer awaits her coming

The feeling of something well-known

—Knock unwished—

An unforeseen invitation escapes him:

Come in!

And now he’s face to face

With an old acquaintance:

No-one...

Sitor Situmorang
after the French translation of Louis-Charles Damais