There are bronze figures in a park nearby

Highest quality in design and casting

But in no way protected from visitors to that part

To touch those figures is in fact invited

One is of a most ferocious boar

Nose pushed forward aggressively 

Long curved tusks a prominent and frightening feature

The beast is of dark brown-black color over all

Except, that is, for his nose

For the nose is polished brightly

It reflects the light and seems to glow in mid-day sun

To the touch it somehow feels warmer than the rest

I sit sometimes and watch while children approach that boar

If this sight be new to them they first react in fear

But I see their young mothers, kneeling as they speak

Assuaging their young fears, soothing apprehension

Carried forward now, safely in their mother’s arms

The child reaches out reluctantly to touch the boar’s bright nose

Some pull back their hand as from some red hot surface

But finding no harm done they touch again

Other children are more bold

They simply grab the boar’s great nose 

Perhaps they see in it now the nose of a beloved family pet

One never knows, children are so different

Different in but one thing regarding that boar’s nose

Once touched it becomes a most attractive thing to them

And funny too, for I hear their squeals of delight

It has come to be a fearful thing now conquered, and now a friendly thing