Emanuel Carnevali

From “The Splendid Commonplace”

THE HEADWAITER says:

“Nice day to-day!”

He smiles sentimentally.

The headwaiter says:

“It will rain to-day!”

He frowns gracefully.

Those are the greetings, every morning,

To every old lady,

And every old gent,

And every old rogue,

And every young couple—

To every guest.

And I, who do not sleep, who wait and watch for the dawn,

One day I would come down to the world.

I would have a trumpet as powerful as the wind,

And I would trumpet out to the world

The splendid commonplace:

“Nice day to-day!”

And another day I would cry out in despair,

“It will rain to-day!”

For every old lady,

And every old gent,

And every old rogue,

And every young couple—

Are they not guests in this hotel,

Where the ceiling is the sky

And the floor is the earth,

And the rooms are the houses?

But I, I—this wretched, tired thing—

May I ask for a job

As headwaiter

Of this hotel?