The King of the StrawrickThey slashed your heart wide open with a scalpel,
because they knew you were king of this strawrick.
Ah, those people: they always find a way
to slaughter pigs and cats, have heads cut off.
They slashed your heart wide open with a scalpel,
thinking that a woman had made you heartsick:
someone who steals tomorrow and today,
yet says she’s lost her undies and her kneading-trough.
Then they placed you naked in the embrace
of a Madonna, (with scorns and jeers toward
the dead and living,) and with a lover’s head.
But I don’t know who snickers in your face
like a buffoon, reeling and tripping forward:
I only know that in my eyes you’re blessed.
(Translated by Luigi Bonaffini)