Words That Burn

Cameo Appearance, by Charles Simic (1938-)

I had a small nonspeaking part

In a bloody epic. I was one of the

Bombed and fleeing humanity.

In the distance the great leader

Crowed like a rooster from a balcony,

Or was it a great actor

Impersonating the great leader?

 

There’s me there, I said to the kiddies.

I’m squeezed between the man

With two bandaged hands raised

And the old woman with her mouth open

As if she were showing us a tooth

 

That hurts badly. The hundred times

I rewound the tape, not once

Could they catch sight of me

In that huge gray crowd,

That was like any other gray crowd.

 

Trot off to bed, I said finally.

I know I was there. One take

Is all they had time for.

We ran, and the planes grazed our hair,

And then there were no more

As we stood dazed in the burning city,

But, of course, they didn’t film that.