Caesar, the amplifier voice, announces <br />Crime and reparation. In the barber shop <br />Recumbent men attend, while absently <br />The barber doffs the naked face with cream. <br />Caesar proposes, Caesar promises <br />Pride, justice, and the sun <br />Brilliant and strong on everyone, <br />Speeding one hundred miles an hour across the land: <br />Caesar declares the will. The barber firmly <br />Planes the stubble with a steady hand, <br />While all in barber chairs reclining, <br />In wet white faces, fully understand <br />Good and evil, who is Gentile, weakness and command. <br /> <br />And now who enters quietly? Who is this one <br />Shy, pale, and quite abstracted? Who is he? <br />It is the writer merely, with a three-day beard, <br />His tiredness not evident. He wears no tie. <br />And now he hears his enemy and trembles, <br />Resolving, speaks: "Ecoutez! La plupart des hommes <br />Vivent des vies de desespoir silenciuex, <br />Victimes des intentions innombrables. Et ca <br />Cet homme sait bien. Les mots de cette voix sont <br />Des songes et des mensonges. Il prend choix, <br />Il prend la volonte, il porte la fin d'ete. <br />La guerre. Ecoutez-moi! Il porte la mort." <br />He stands there speaking and they laugh to hear <br />Rage and excitement from the foreigner.<br /><br />Delmore Schwartz<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/parlez-vous-francais/
