To the Unknown Helper #4 (reflections on Mahler)
Add your light to the sum of light today
We know that you have sorrow within you
But do it for free or do it for pay
This is your ransom, to try to stay true.
I know it is hard as the evening raga comes
That is, to be precise, I’ve heard rumors,
And whispers on the wind, I’ve done the sums
And the news is bad, it’s of malignant tumors,
They grow in me, and their names are antic,
The seven most grievous sins reinvented,
It’s enough to make me old and frantic
Unredeem’d, tectonic, a blind thing, sedimented.
But I shall join my voice to the voice of the Earth
Earth’s sorrow at sunrise, tears that salt mirth.
