nicholas, the expirimental dog - raymond queneau

Nicholas, The Experimental Dog
by Raymond Queneau (tr. Rexroth)

Nicholas
You ran away from the hospital
They told you you weren’t sick
You were just an animal
Nicholas
You didn’t know

Nicholas
They told you you were phthisick
Leprous, chorean, cholerick
You were enigmatick
Nicholas
They didn’t know

Nicholas
Everybody ran after you
They found you in the rue d’Bellechasse
Where you didn’t need to go
Nicholas
You didn’t know

Nicholas
You’ve got a kidney in your neck
Your aorta is full of holes
Incisions all over you
Nicholas
You didn’t know

Nicholas
You were really a man
Just like all of us
The pancreas in the gum
The stomach in the rum
Some brains in the heart
The lungs coming out of the fingers
The intestines coming out of the nose
An ear in the liver
Just like all of us
Nicholas
And just like you
Nobody knows.