Classic Poem

This youth, suffering, weak,
Plays the violin in the sun
For a drink of rum
And a handful of tobacco.

And listen! While he ripples
A Spanish roundelay
Or some Slavic song.
This youth, suffering, weak,

Goes out to seek the sun
To fill his shabby sack
To get a drink of rum
And a handful of tobacco.

Goes out to kill despair
When he plays the violin,
Comes out to seek the sun
As a snail creeps from its shell.

This weak and suffering boy
Died playing the violin.
What of it? He came to his end
With a drink of rum
And a handful of tobacco.

They found him in the sun
Clasping his violin.