The image we have of ourselves is not ours (Translation of a Juarroz poem)

One must let the negative of one's image
take shape within oneself,
the blacks and whites transformed,
the meanings transformed,
the abysses transformed.

One must allow the wrong side
to rise to the surface of oneself,
in order to see oneself differently,
to look at things differently.

One must allow the free form of oneself
rise in oneself
and let it mingle with its virtual images,
its lost images,
make it form a bouquet of all its images.

The images we have of ourselves are useless.
They undo themselves like a canvas without a frame,
they collapse like a mirror of dust
into death.
One must seek one's own negative
and instead of developing it, dig into it.

The image we have of ourselves is not ours.
We have loaned an image.
But its negative can be the path
to an image which is ours this time:
the positive side of a thought
which corrects the void.

(Roberto Juarroz, 2002, Translation Gabrielli)