Report from a Besieged City

I saw prophets tearing at their pasted-on beards
I saw imposters joining sects of flagellants
butchers disguised in sheepskin
who fled the anger of the people
playing on a block flute

I saw I saw

I saw a man who had been tortured
he now sat safely in the family circle
cracked jokes ate soup
I looked at the opened mouth
his gums—two bramble twigs stripped of bark
I saw his whole nakedness
the whole humiliation