Title

For a senior college textbook

1

don't read odes, boy, timetables

are more exact. unroll the sea-charts

before it is too late. be n your guard. don't sing.

the day will come when they paste upon the door

5

new blacklists and brand their mark on those who answer no.

learn to pass unrecognized, to change quarters,

identify and face: you'll need more than i did.

become adept at minor treason,

the sordid daily escape. the encyclicals

10

will do to make a fire, manifestos

to wrap up butter and salt

for the defenceless. anger and endurance

are necessary to blow into the lungs of power

the deadly powder, ground fine

15

by such as you, who have learnt much

and are fastidious in their ways.

Trans. Christopher Middleton