“The Man with the Beautiful Eyes” από τη συλλογή του Μπουκόφσκι “The Last Night Of The Earth Poems”. Το animation είναι των Jonathan Hodgson και Jonny Hannah. 
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when we were kids  there was a strange house

all the shades were  always  drawn
and we never heard voices  in there
and the yard was full of
bamboo
and we liked to play in  the bamboo
pretend we were  Tarzan  (although there was no  Jane).
and there was a  fish pond  a large one
full of the  fattest goldfish  you ever saw
and they were  tame.

they came to the  surface of the water
and took pieces of  bread
from our hands.
Our parents had  told us:
“never go near that  house.”
so, of course,  we went.
we wondered if anybody  lived there.
weeks went by and we  never saw
anybody.
then one day we  heard  a voice
from the house  “YOU GOD DAMNED  WHORE!”
it was a man’s  voice.

then the screen  door  of the house was  flung open
and the man  walked  out.
he was holding a  fifth of whiskey
in his right  hand.
he was about  30.
he had a cigar  in his  mouth,  needed a shave. 
his hair was  wild and uncombed
and he was  barefoot
in undershirt  and pants.
but his eyes  were  bright.

they blazed  with  brightness
and he said,
“hey, little  gentlemen,
having a good  time, I  hope?”
then he gave a  little laugh
and walked  back into the  house.
we left,  went back to my  parents’ yard
and thought  about it.

our parents,  we decided,
had wanted us  to stay away  from there  
because they  never wanted us
to see a man  like  that,
a strong natural  man
with  beautiful  eyes.
our parents  were ashamed
that they were  not
like that  man,
that’s why they  wanted us
to stay  away.

but  we went back  to that house
and the bamboo 
and the tame  goldfish.
we went back  many times
for many weeks
but we never  saw
or heard  the man  again.
the shades were  down  as always
and it was  quiet.

then one day
as we came back from  school
we saw the  house.
it had burned  down,
there was nothing  left,
just a smouldering 
twisted black  foundation
and we went to  the fish pond
and there was  no water  in it
and the fat  orange goldfish
were dead  there,
drying out.

we went back to  my parents’ yard
and talked about  it
and decided that  our parents
had  burned their  house down,
had killed  them
had killed the  goldfish
because it was  all too  beautiful,
even the bamboo  forest
had  burned.

they had been  afraid of
the man with the  beautiful  eyes.
and  we were afraid  then
that  all throughout our lives
things like that  would  happen,
that nobody  wanted  anybody
to be strong and  beautiful
like that,
that  others would never  allow it,
and that  many people
would have to  die.