His gaze against the sweeping of the bars

His vision, from the constantly passing bars,

has grown so weary, it can hold no more.

has grown so weary that it cannot hold

To him, there seem to be a thousand bars

anything else. It seems to him there are

and back behind those thousand bars no world.

a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world.

The soft the supple step and sturdy pace,

As he paces in cramped circles, over and over,

that in the smallest of all circles turns,

the movement of his powerful soft strides

moves like a dance of strength around a core

is like a ritual dance around a center

in which a mighty will is standing stunned.

in which a mighty will stands paralyzed.

Only at times the pupil’s curtain slides

Only at times, the curtain of the pupils

up soundlessly — . An image enters then,

lifts, quietly--. An image enters in,

goes through the tensioned stillness of the limbs —

rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles,

and in the heart ceases to be.

plunges into the heart and is gone.