The Man Poem by Ivan Malkovych

He puts on a jester's mask -
they recognize him.

He dresses in the robe of a merciless judge -
they implore:
"Stop it. As if it's you."

He changes into a fox -
they yell:
"We recognized you long ago.
Enough."

He wraps himself in Don Juan's cloak -
they laugh:
"Not that style."

He stretches on a chameleon's mask -
and tears off that façade himself:

comical
lost man -
he can't understand
that in every mask
is a slit
for eyes.

Translation: 2004, Olena Jennings