Speaking of Lice: And Only Man is Vile
“unbelievably brutal, loud-mouthed people in the streets”
~ Paul Verlaine on the people of London
“To see oursels as ithers see us” ~ Robert Burns
He said that they were small and skinny, too,
Emaciated, most especially
The poor; an accidental forecast, true
Of Paul’s and Arthur’s lives too, unfleshily
Accomplished like a prophet who sees things
Around him and his partner and predicts
Unknowingly that they will know the slings
And arrows of the same. Today evicts
The happiness of futures. What we see
In others now will overwhelm us then.
Tomorrow is today’s slung prophecy.
The suffering of others slammed these men
In London—and then later. This foul punk
And lover shrivelled. Every prospect shrunk.