Quiver as though unseen roses grazed him.

His face is blackly stubbled emptiness

Swerving to the rotted prayers of eyes.

Yet, sometimes his thin arm leaps out

And hangs a moment in the air,

As though he raised a violin of hate

And lacked the strength to play it.

A woman lurches from the family-entrance.

With tense solicitude she hugs

Her can of beer against her stunted bosom