Death Sneers Silently at Services
We sing to dead ones. That is how we pray.
We sing the hymns and requiems. We chant
The kaddish and the words of fate. We sway
In robes the living wear. The pious rant
Which sounds more beautiful than death, unless
The timbre is of Russian basses. Then
The prayer competes with agony. The stress
Increases, making us believe that men
Should be forbidden from the groans of pain.
The lullabies for corpses are the worst
Of tunes. We feign that songs will wipe the stain,
The rot. The weakness of the words is curst.
..The weakness of the voices singing, strong
….As life can find, are out of whack and wrong.