Owls
He climbed up stairs
wearing an empty saucepan
on his head he wanted to call
the muses over let them
spread benevolence and arts
to rabble but the gardenias
folded up and the finches balked
so without any followers
he stood
looking down as less and less
men remained in the plaza until
he plied his speech and rats
started dancing and the owls
who know wisdom shut
their eyes in embarrassment
Manolis Aligizakis 