The Indifferent People (poem)

We were the handsomest people of any nation
Look at us --
Do you find our gathering places possible to bear?
Look at them, and what do you admire?
They will not notice; it will be as if you are not visible at all
It is they whom you notice
They do not seek regard: it comes already in a quantity that is satisfying
Are you looking for someone else's regard, though you do not believe that you do?
Why do you seek notice now?

The faces are twisted, the bodies lacking in form
Not inhuman or always vulgar, confusing the matter
Yet you do not embrace it, while not removing yourself
It is a partnership in the shadows, open-ended, and if you were wiser you could finish with it
But you are lodged into a space, and one would rather not be freed from a place like this
If there is no objection you could loudly raise

You seek recognition for your ordinary acts
You think them extraordinary, but don't dare boast
And so you go in circular motion
You don't conceive of a trap, where you stand untroubled
That is, if fated, without concern