A pig that wallows in the mud
Plotinus says can be washed clean.
Dung-spattered bull tormented by the flies
Be milk-white, silken-soft like Jove
Tempting Europa on the beach.
Each morning when I take my bath
My body's beautiful and white -
But oh I have no appetite!
Wild strawberries or a peach
For me have nothing to teach.
I smoulder like a dying fire,
My native land the hearth.