El Hombre Extraño

That man was strange,
or so they thought,
because he kissed everything
he found in his path
he found in his path.

He kissed people
dogs, furniture,
and gently bit
the window of a room.

When he went out to the street
he kissed the neighborhood
corners, sidewalks,
portals and markets
and on movie nights,
(also theater nights)
he kissed his seat
and those beside him.

For these and many others,
the sane ones took him
where no one would see him
where he wouldn't be remembered.

And they say that in his cell
he kissed his shoes,
his cot, his bars,
his mud walls.

One day, without warning,
that strange man died;
and very naturally,
they buried him in the ground.
At that very moment,
from the sky, the birds
discovered that lips
had been born to the world.

That man was strange...