Men and women spend only a moment in Paradise.

The two lovers watch Charlie Chaplin eat his shoe,

And a moment later find themselves barefooted in the grave.

I know that I wanted more than two years with you.

If my wife had been able to absorb more cruelty,

Perhaps I could have paid the fiery angels to go away.

The dead man lies in bed with his great toe

Sticking up; it is because of his toe

That he could carry the burden of marriage so long.

Sometimes I frighten that boy who sleeps on the ground.

He keeps his head in his arms; all he smells is the hair

That is left behind when the groundhog is eaten.

There are as many groundhogs as there are stars,

Wherever there is a lot of anything, we are in trouble.

It is the generosity of snowflakes that leads us to suicide.

The bats’ wings are the Saviours of the mosquitoes;

And the cod long for the net. It was only the certainty

Of death that kept Horace alive so long.