I

How terrible: closing your eyes
to the life around you
you pronounce solemn, suspicious judgment
on Youth!
Yes, its actions are vague
and uncertain.
No evil secret
in that old truth—
But a blind judge is useless
and it is bad enough
to see a friend
in one who hates you
—worse still: to see
an enemy in one who is your friend.

                  II

They accuse me
of many things.
There are many around
who don't love me at all.
They want to strike me
with lightning and thunder!
I can hear their sinister laughter
flapping its wings overhead.
I can feel their venomous stares
snaking across my shoulders.
     But I tell you,
I get a big charge out of this—
their raging just goes to show
that they
can't make it!

—1958