“…Let the lamp affix its beam…”
Wallace Stevens - The Emperor of Ice-Cream
The cortege left our home,
In undignified haste.
The coffin rested in peace,
On six uneven shoulders:
Two at the head,
Two at the feet,
Two in the middle.
The bearers, it seemed to me,
Walked and talked,
Sans the slightest semblance,
Of solemnity, civility,
Or propriety.
They teased us into spelling,
Two of the six,
And poked fun at me,
As I walked like a crab,
Under the unfamiliar dead-weight.
Amid jokes, laughter and fun,
No one even pretended,
To bemoan the departed.
What a grave affront to the deceased!
But, they were right, perhaps.
Grief couldn`t set up a hut,
Dig a grave or bear a coffin;
And the dead was dead.
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