Double Condemnation
So, is that it? Just that? Will our pride, he asked, depend
on the errors of others? Which pride? Which justification?
And not on our own virtues? Teacher, teacher we’ve seen
through your mimics well enough: justice, freedom and
that smile of yours, (we called heavenly) when the doors
opened and the crowds ran.
They ran behind you yelling, leaving their homes wide open
to the sun, the winds, the thieves. And when the following
night the thirteen man raised his glass, we knew now:
everything took place already. The dead are laid in the beds,
and under the beds your cardboard shoes, red and
imperial, with small mirrors all around.
