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While walking down a strange street
I suddenly heard the cawing of crows,
Distant thunder, and the tones of a lute —
Here came a streetcar flying past.
How I managed to leap to its step
Is beyond me — even in the bright
Daylight it spewed behind itself
In the atmosphere a trail of fire.
It moved forth like a dark, winged storm,
This streetcar losing itself among
The depths of time — "Conductor, stop!
Conductor, stop this car at once!"
A billboard: drawn in blood, the letters
"Grocer's"; here, I know, instead
Of cabbages and rutabagas
One may purchase lifeless heads.
And then the executioner,
In red shirt, with face like an udder,
Chopped off my head: it lay with others
In this slimy box, just at the bottom.
Now I see it all: Our freedom
Is just a small light breaking through
From another world: people and shadows
Loiter by the gate to the planets' zoo.
Down the alley, a wooden fence,
A house with three windows, and a gray lawn.
"Conductor, stop the car at once!
Conductor, stop the streetcar!"
But still my heart is always shadowed;
It's hard to breathe; it hurts to live.
I never thought that one could
Have such love, or feel such grief.
