Fading away of a gong’s brown-golden sounds—

A lover awakens in black rooms

The cheek near flames that flicker in the window.

In the river sails, masts, and ropes flash.

A monk, a pregnant woman there in the crowd.

Guitars strum, red smocks gleam.

Chestnuts shrivel sultry in golden shine;

The churches’ sad pageantry towers black.

The spirit of evil watches from pale masks.

A square dusks gruesome and somber.

In the evening whispers stir on the islands.

Lepers read confused signs from the flight

Of birds, perhaps decay during the night.

In the park siblings meet trembling.