San Marco

what does it mean?
you with hard eyes
richly garbed in rags.
you shine self-righteously,
don't fear me!
you, with a crying face.
your two young daughters walk,
quick and sterile steps
cold clean ways you taught them
a staccato, stiletto sadness.
embrace the madness!
it comes with joy and wind.
breathe honest air,
learn the slow way of being -
a mountain. not a skyscraper.

what does it mean!
your hard eyes,
laughing,
raucous in the cold.
why shield from the sunlight?
can't you see, hard eyes?
blindness is no excuse
for a crying face, sterile steps,
learn to look at flowers.
you with the hard eyes.