The ladybug

She told me: "Something

Is bothering me." And I noticed

Her snow-white neck, and, upon it,

A small reddish insect.

I should have - but wise or mad,

At sixteen, one is timid --

I should have noticed the kiss on her mouth

More than the insect on her neck.

It looked like a shell,

Its back red and spattered with black.

To see us better, warblers

Stretched out their necks in the branches.

Her sweet mouth was there;

I bent over the beautiful girl,

And I removed the ladybug,

But the kiss flew away!

"Son, learn what they call me,"

The insect said from the blue sky,

"Animals belong to the Good Lord,

But Idiocy belongs to Man."