Lay these words into the dead man's grave <br />next to the almonds and black cherries--- <br />tiny skulls and flowering blood-drops, eyes, <br />and Thou, O bitterness that pillows his head. <br /> <br />Lay these words on the dead man's eyelids <br />like eyebrights, like medieval trumpet flowers <br />that will flourish, this time, in the shade. <br />Let the beheaded tulips glisten with rain. <br /> <br />Lay these words on his drowned eyelids <br />like coins or stars, ancillary eyes. <br />Canopy the swollen sky with sunspots <br />while thunder addresses the ground. <br /> <br />Syllable by syllable, clawed and handled, <br />the words have united in grief. <br />It is the ghostly hour of lamentation, <br />the void's turn, mournful and absolute. <br /> <br />Lay these words on the dead man's lips <br />like burning tongs, a tongue of flame. <br />A scouring eagle wheels and shrieks. <br />Let God pray to us for this man.<br /><br />Edward Hirsch<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/in-memoriam-paul-celan/
