If Christians threaten to start a pogrom
I’ll paint a cross on the door.
If Muslims suddenly arrive
I’ll draw a crescent.
Buddhists are peaceful people,
though a bit spoilt by progress.
I’d better put some sort of hieroglyph there.
I would draw all this
on my children’s foreheads—
but how could I explain
that such funny signs are better
than ordinary-looking numbers
branded on pallid forearms:
as if stamped by the devil?
Translated by Ruth Fainlight