A STATUE FOR NO ONE Poem by Juan Manuel Roca

For Rafael Alcides, who knows the little park of No One.

Nobody's funeral, for there is no one to bury.
TS Eliot
In bronze. Let it be in bronze the statue of No One. With pedestal. Let it be of marble, its pedestal. In a bright-lit square we shall put up his monument. No One will have the green epaulettes that pigeons will leave on his shoulders.
In the absence of heroes we could adopt him as the city standard bearer, front man in the battles of nothing. Historians and academics will take care of the necessary details of his life. Couples will meet beneath an equestrian shadow - since heroes take pleasure in horses - in the big square that we'll give a Chirico touch.
It will be seemly to adorn the statue with out-of-season flowers: sunflowers in stone and metal orchids.
In bronze. Let it be in bronze the statue of No One, in homage to the just man, to the non-existent gentleman.