The human effort
is not this beautiful young man smiling
upright on his leg of stone or of plaster
and giving thanks to the puerile artifices
of the sculptor
the imbecile illusion of joy
dance and jubilation while evoking
with his other leg up in the air the
sweetness of the return home
no
the human effort does not carry a young
child on his right shoulder another one on
his head and a third one on his left shoulder,
and the tools of his trade hanging around
his waist while he strides forward alongside
a happy young woman holding his arm
the human effort wears a truss and the scars of
his struggles amidst an absurd and ruthless world
the human effort has no real home
it smells like his work
and it is affected lung
his salary is meager
his children also
he worked as a negro
and the negro as he works
the human effort doesn't have
a home he can truly call his
his wages are thin and so are his children.
his age is not the "age of enlightenment"
his age, is the age of barracks,
the age of prisons and detention camps,
the age of churches and factories
the age of guns and tanks
and he, who has planted all the vines everywhere
and has tuned up all the violins
he must feed upon bad dreams and drink
the bitter wine of resignation
and like a large drunk squirrel incessantly
he turns round and round without end inside
the constricting unfriendly dusty old cage
and unceasingly he forges the chain
the daunting chain upon which all is chained
work profit misery slaughter sadness
misfortune insomnia and boredom
the daunting chain of gold,
of oil coal iron and steel
of blast-furnace slag and dust
passed around the neck
of a dysfunctional world,
the wretched chain on which
cling the "divine" baubles
the sacred relics the medals of honor
the swastikas
the knick-knack amulets
the medals of the old servants
the trinkets of misfortune
and the grand museum piece
the grand old portrait
the large equestrian portrait
the full-face portrait
the finely chiseled profile portrait,
the hop-scotch portrait,
the grand gilded portrait
the grand old portrait of the grand old preacher
the grand old portrait of the grand emperor
the grand portrait of the grand thinker
the grand rope jumper
the grand moralizer
the face of the dignified
and sad practical joker
the face of the grand bloody nuisance
the face of the aggressive pacificator
the police face of the grand liberator
the face of Mr. Thiers
the face of Adolph Hitler
the face of the dictator
the face of the executioner of whatever country
of whatever color
the odious face
the unhappy face
the sort of face
that just asks to be swiped
the face of fear