Good Boy
I
will not take off my shoes and let the city consume me.
I
will not wear the wrong shirt nor say the wrong thing.
I
will not get myself plastered under the occasional bridge.
I
accept this fate of starched shirts,
of always arriving at the movies on time,
of giving my seat up to old ladies on the train.
Anything
leaning toward non-meaning leaves me uneasy.
I
aspire to toothpaste and towels. I have all my shots.
Now see your poor suitor so paralyzed
under
the rage & glare of policemen, the matching sets of rabid nannies,
he cannot jump into a fountain
and catch you
a little red fish.
Posted 12/12/13
A translation of Julio Cortazar's "El Nino Bueno".