And from my service days, I was in the army stationed
in Heidelberg, Germany, an area which,
in the wintertime at least, has a great deal of fog.
This is really an older poem for my army days.
It has a Spanish title, "El Pez de la Noche" which means,
of course, "The Fish of the Night."
We soldiers-- you know how soldiers are at night.
We had nothing better to do but roam around foggy Heidelberg.
And this dripping damp weather created quite an impression
on me.
"The fish of the night carries a yellow lantern in his mouth.
His tail is made of a sickle.
His stomach is full of sleeping men and women.
He floats down alleys and the rabbits kick in their dreams.
He glides down the street and bumps his nose
against the windows.
The fish of the night wears a joker's cap,
hung with tin bells and a fat monk's belt around his girth.
He lifts a leg to pee on the corner of a building.
And waking in the middle of the night,
you can smell his stale breath as he passes in search
of vendors and empty bottles."