Uomini Persi

Even those who sleep in a shabby corner
Covered by newspapers, hands as pillows
Had a white bed to climb and a thread
Of light on from the next room
Two quick, dancing feet kicking at the sea
In the last summer as a kid
Little rides with lots of lights and few people
And just one turn

Even these others strangled by ties
Carrying war in their briefcases
They returned with their bags in the wind
That sweeps away the leaves of the first day of school
Sunbeams stretching colors on the last games
Among the little hills of dirt
And on the windowsill of a house without balconies
Two fingers like a gun

Even those crazies who shot at people
Puncturing them like canceled tickets
Thought the dead would cover them
So they wouldn’t get cold and sleep would be light
They looked at the airplane and then they swallowed it
And stayed there without swallowing or spitting
On a little road and four houses in a snow globe
That when you shake it, the snow falls down

Even these Christs
Fallen down without names and without crosses
Were sailors behind crooked, sad glasses
On little boats made from walnut shells
And where are the days of tomorrow
The candies sucked in their hands
Of all the lost men in the world
Of all the scattered hearts in the world

Those who buy the lives of others
Selling them packets and the worst of lives
Exchanged stickers and secrets
With someone bigger but first had to swear
Heads slumped in the back seat
On the long, honking roads back from trips
A bit of fever in their hair and a shirt
That doesn’t want to go away

And the desperate who sow bombs among poor bodies
As if they were empty to lose, like they were puppets
Sitting on their heels, they overturned stones
And a world of ants that ran away
The harsh voices of mothers calling them
Under a square of stars in the courtyards of buildings
And the family buying a new coat
And everyone around saying how it looked on them

Even these eyes
Hungry to be born just to die of hunger
Passed a finger of saliva on their knees
And everyone chasing a ball in a swarm
Light as rags and where they fight
Where’s a dad to chase away the night
Of all the lost men in the world
Of all the scattered hearts in the world

Of all the lost men in the world
Of all the scattered hearts in the world