Give me a sponge and some clear, clean water
and leave me alone awhile
with my thirteen sorry pictures that have just been
rescued
from durance vile.
Leave me alone now, for my soul is burning
as it feels the slimy taint
of all those nasty police-eyes like snail-tracks smearing
the gentle souls that figure in the paint.
Ah, my nice pictures, they are fouled, they are
dirtied
not by time, but by unclean breath and eyes
of all the sordid people that have stared at them
uncleanly
looking dirt on them, and breathing on them
lies.
Ah my nice pictures, let me sponge you very
gently
to sponge away the slime
that ancient eyes have left on you, where obscene eyes
have
crawled
leaving nasty films upon you every time.
Ah the clean waters of the sky, ah! can you
wash
away the evil starings and the breath
of the foul ones from my pictures? Oh purify
them now from all this touch of tainted
death!