I'm going now,
Back to the beginning and the end.
The heat and the darkness await me
As fervently as I have always longed for them.

I'm going to be that other man.
I'm going to put my tiny pain in the shadow
Of the Great Pain.

My heart still breaks, petulantly,
For my own Mistress of Montreal,
But I will dispose of her,
As I disposed of others,
In the rains and sweat and blood and beer
That wash and warp us relentlessly
In the alleyways and gutters
Of my one true home.