ULTIMATE INNOCENCE

He put on his shoes,his gloves, his cap.

Underclothing and clothing-none. And he went out into the

street.

The plumber, the coal dealer, the butcher, the policeman,

the old dog with its tail cut, two flags,

the large red woman on the wall. Approaching her,

he removed his right glove with his other hand,

he detected that ancestral ring lost years ago,

and at the same time saw himself naked under

the red woman's gaze. Nothing was left him any more.

He then removed both shoes also, placed his gloves

in one of them, his cap in the other. And thus, alone,

smiling in an ultimate innocence, he proffered

his naked hands to the handcuffs.