But you avidly grip us again—we pay for the little noise of life we steal.

TO AN ENEMY

I despise my friends more than you.

I would have known myself, but they stood before the mirrors

And painted on them images of the virtues I craved.

You came with sharpest chisel, scraping away the false paint.

Then I knew and detested myself, but not you:

For glimpses of you in the glasses you uncovered

Showed me the virtues whose images you destroyed.

TO A DISCARDED STEEL RAIL