Diptych


1. Mannequin girls


The mannequin girls
  are always impassive and sad -
standing,
   sitting,
     reclining,
      playing golf...

Chin down,
 head - up
or no head at all -
 who would care!
  Nobody takes any notice withall.
   Important 
are only their clothes
     or underwear -
  red, violet, brown...
Isn't that fair?

Their faces are masks -
   no eyes,
sometimes just fabric
  or a golden metalic vizor.

Some of them
  have wooden joints 
for the hands and arms
 like  Pinocchio's,
  some have black legs or no legs -
just a stand.
   They may have no hair or lips either.

What's their end?

The mannequin girls
  are always impassive and sad -
their hearts do not matter,
  only the clothes -
green, black or red...


Do they think they do not deserve a friend?
   Do they have any thoughts?
Can they think at all?
 The mannequin girls
  are always impassive and sad -
what's their end withall?

Who knows!
  Faceless, hairless, without legs or thoughts -
that is how their fate goes on...

http://lit.lib.ru/img/s/slobodkina_o/mannequingirlsdoc/index.shtml


2. Mannequin men


The mannequin men
  are more dignified.

Sitting or standing
  they seem to be able to clearly define
what it is up to - pretending.

  They're more like businessmen -
making money... That's all.
  They do not care
what we think about them withall -
  just selling clothes and underwear.
Some play football or golf.
  Isn't that fair?

The mannequin men
   take their lives
for what they are worth -
  without a feeling.
Love, tenderness,
  dismay or wrath
do not seem to be their concern -
  they won't hit the ceiling.

Their end, however, is the same as the girls' -
  luckily they don't know it.

They cannot imagine an abyss - its whirls.
  Nothing appaling...



http://lit.lib.ru/img/s/slobodkina_o/mmendoc/index.shtml


June 20, June 23, 2023