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ON A WAX FIGURE
This is what Ariane says from out of her glass cage
They came, a thousand and three of them,
O my handsome
passer-by of the heart,
out of the four
corners of the earth
and from the four
perfumes of the wind.
The soldier came,
a teacher, a hardware
shopkeeper, a
tavern-keeper, the notary,
the grocer and an athlete,
a murderer, an astronomer,
a sailor, an ancient king,
a geometer, an apostle,
they came, a thousand and three of them.
One of them said: Throne of Bengal,
another: Queen of Sheba,
for one I was Betelgueuse,
for another hypotenuse.
O my radiant absinthe,
O my child with the golden locks,
bitter-sweet, O alkaline,
O virgin of the catacombs.
I was the salt of anxiety,
the lily of the Mississippi,
the sensual delight of the law
and the siren that calls from the sky.
They came, a thousand and three of them,
their hands full of flowers,
laughing and crying -
Not one of them said: 'Be my death' -
And each of them saw himself
in the box of a thousand fires,
O my handsome
passer-by of the heart,
what would you like me to be?
You see the rose appearing in full view
out of the grave that is full of secrets.
I have the most beautiful eyes in the world,
but they are glass eyes.