In the Streams of Pure Brilliance
In the streams of pure brilliance,
With a self-complacent smile,
Lives a smug, pretentious poet
With a highfalutin style.
He just walks around the city
With dark shades and a winter coat,
Claiming that he has a vision
And that no one gets his goat.
As he shops for stale bananas
For his daughter and his wife,
Local riffraff starts to wonder
If he really has a life.
But it really doesn't matter--
Nothing touches him at all
In his world of metaphysics,
Where he has transcendent goals.
As a young girl at the counter
Reads the price: "Five sixty-nine,"
He just looks at her intently,
Saying: "It will be just fine."
"I will buy these stale bananas,
These tomatoes, bread and milk,
But you'll never meet another
Of my stature and my ilk."
"If you ever read my verses,
You'll come to realize
There is more to life than burgers,
Eggs and bacon, cheese and fries."
"If you look inside my soul,
You'll see yourself in me--
A long-haired flame of passion
That has come to set you free."
And he gives her twenty dollars,
Smiles and tells her: "Keep the change.
Just remember what I told you,
And don't think me mad or strange."
So she tells him: "Thank you, Mister.
Your fine wisdom I'll miss--
If I didn't have a boyfriend,
I'd give you a wet kiss."
So he gracefully walks out--
With his bag, dark shades and all,
Saying: "God, forgive your children,
I have saved another soul."
February 25, 2007
--Alexander Shaumyan
