Carnival magicians

 

Bitter hearts

throwing angry darts

and putting sanctifying rituals

through moralistic victuals

and convention’s balm

on the slapping palm,

They are carnival magicians,

from pigsty and brothels,

—pigs and whores—

The servitude and vilification,

in innocence and perversion,

Being benevolent and harsh,

In eternal fidelity with ethics

They bury massacres under funeral honors,

Brutal and barbarous,

but with secret astuteness

they trade the promise of everlasting love,

They can win a woman’s or man’s affection and confidence

and later desire

to sire

pleasure

and be in love,

They can turn holy

even the whorehouse tears,

They can smile

hiding their rage and crudest fury,

They carry an antique rancor

in their heart’s wild beating,

Their slave plantations

are acts of charity,

Their loose-tongued thunderstorms

pass as sermons in kindness,

They are the sunning alligators

with a splendid lucidity of goal.