Such Nice Boys

Such nice boys,
who murder
in the sun
and rescue
poor kittens by night.
Such nice boys,
dancing in the classical fashion
in between looting
abandoned cars in parking lots.
Studying philosophy as they sit
in the court room on trial
for treason and stealing eggs.
Inventing new forms
of expression in painting,
as they draw a map
that locates the bodies
and the stolen treasure.
Learning Italian, Greek,
and Swahili while passing
counterfeit bills in the churchyard.
Curing scrofula and leprosy,
after drowning the banker and the clerk.
Their treatise
on the nature of good and evil,
written while in solitary
after the prison revolt,
now required reading
in the seminaries of four major religions.
Their recorded songs,
eight volumes that have
embarassed Mozart
and lift the souls of the lost,
are sold in the ruins
of the art museum they burned
to the ground.
Their recipe
for lemon-raisin cake
is a holiday standard
on the anniversary of their
stealing the diamonds
from the Tower of London.