FIGURE

Through the turbulent servility

Of a churlish city street

He strides opaquely; nothing in his walk

Resembles an advancing gleam.

His legs are muffled iron

Stubbornly following even thoughts,

His gaily pugnacious head

Seems worried because no dread

Remains for it to slay.

His eyes hold an austerity

That recalls itself while leaping,

And often melts into amusement.

The bent poise of his body

Tells of walls that threw him back,

Only to crumble underneath

The stunned friendliness of his face.

Through the angularly churlish street

He walks, and stoops beneath the captured weight

Of eyes that do not see him.