939. DEATH IS NOT PART OF LIFE

DEATH IS NOT
PART OF LIFE
I walked Mr. Twain through his paces
and grew deadly tired at that. So much noise
and a wearisome toil . He once said to me,
'It's as if you got to find, well, something
to write about, just to keep going.' And
all that was well before Wittgenstein. I've
never been in battle, but I've worn
some armor old.
-
Those things, those dominoes set in
a row - you say they are people waiting
for the bus. I say no. Cadavers like that
can't move and they are stupid, blissed-out
kitchen workers talking swiftly in a tongue
from another land. They never stop - and
chatter and laughter I hate. Mexicali
Rose just got here, late.
-
The tall man, with the red bandanna,
I heard him say : 'There's no efficiency
like death; it comes straight at you, lurks
long, finds the lethal, and strikes.
Everything else should be so easy
but death is not part of Life.'