Upon the heavy feet of shuffling loves.

Gently, he plays with his beard

As though his fingers touched a woman’s hair.

And this young Slav whose surly blasphemy

Curls his face into a simple hate,

Has taken iron into his laugh

And uses it to hew his stony mind.

While this Italian whose deep olive skin

Shines like sunlight groping through dense leaves,

Forgets his battered happiness