The Peace That Reigns

The old man's pleasure is to catch the last stars

under the dawn, then drink a while and wander

through the street.

One has always known that the world ends like this:

one finds oneself amongst unknown faces,

and it is not enough to watch and ponder them calmly.

My old man begins traveling the streets at dawn

and no one notices that he watches and ponders;

he, who one time was young, like the world is young.

Even dogs ignore the old man's body, naked

and feeble, passing by, and how he spends his mornings

watching the bodies of young men and women

whose vigor he recalls. But the restless eyes of the

young,

who do not pay attention to the old man, pass in the

street,

and they all possess a life that the old man does not

know.

Certainly, they always share the same streets

and the morning's splendor. But one young man

who attacked and struck my old man with stones

would not understand that exactly. And my old man

doesn't understand,

although he thinks of everything as fate:

he thinks of the young and the old who make up all of

life.

The old man is also disturbed by the thought that one

day

these people will also be old, and no one will know

with what expression unknown faces will annoy them

this way.

But a glance around the world enlivens anyone,

and in the morning everything arouses him. Growing

old,

it will again be a pleasure to catch the dawn

and to descend into the streets among the living

crowd.

STREET SONG

Why be ashamed? When one has paid his time,

if they allow him to leave, it is because he is like

everyone else,

and there are people walking the streets who have

been in prison.

We stroll these streets from morning to evening,

and rain or shine, everything happens just for us.

It is a delight to meet in the street people who

exchange

greetings, picking up sweethearts with kind words.

It is a delight to whistle in doorways, waiting for

lovers

and embracing them on the street, then going to the

movies

to lean against beautiful knees and smoke in the dark.

It is a delight to converse, caressing and laughing,

and at night in bed, to feel thrown about the neck

two arms that draw one down low; to think of the

morning

when one will leave prison and return to the freshness

of the sun.

To wander intoxicated from morning to evening

and watch the laughing passersby who passionately

enjoy

everything - even the ugly- while walking the

streets.

To sing drunkenly from morning to evening