Cinema of a Man

The earth is bright though the boughs of the moon like
a dead planet
It is silent it has no sound the sun is on it
It shines in the dark like a white stone in a deep meadow
It is round above it is flattened under with shadow

* * * *

He sits in the rue St. Jacques at the iron table
It is dusk it is growing cold the roof stone glitters
on the gable
The taxis turn in the rue du Pot de Fer
The gas jets brighten one by one behind the windows of
the stair

* * * *

THis is his face the chin long the eyes looking

* * * *

Now he sits on the porch of the Villa Serbelloni
He is eating white bread and brown honey
The sun is hot on the lake there are boats rowing
It is spring the rhododendrons are out the wind is blowing

* * * *

Above Bordeaux by the canal
His shadow passes on the evening wall
His legs are crooked at the knee he has one shoulder
He arms are long he vanishes among the shadows of the alder

* * * *

He wakes in the Grand Hotel Vierjahreszeiten
It is dawn the carts go by the cutains whiten
He sees her yellow hair she has neither father nor mother
Her name is Ann she has had him now and before another

* * * *

This is his face in the light of the full moon
His skin is white and grey like the skin of a quadroon
His head is raised to the sky he stands staring
His mouth is still his face is still his eyes are staring

* * * *

He walks with Ernest in the streets in Saragossa
They are drunk their mouths are hard they say qué cosa
They say the cruel words they hurt each other
Their elbows touch their shoulders touch their feet go on and on
together

* * * *

Now he is by the sea at St.-Tropez
The pines roar in the wind it is hot it is noonday
He is naked he swims in the blue under the sea water
His limbs are drowned in the dapple of the sun like the limbs
of the sea's daughter

* * * *

Now he is in Chicago he is sleeping
The footstep passes on the stone the roofs are dripping
The door is closed the walls are dark the shadows deepen
His head is motionless upon his arm his hand is open

* * * *

Those are the cranes above the Karun River
They fly across the night their wings go over
They cross Orion and the south star of the Wain
A wave has broken in the sea beyond the coast of Spain