(Week Nine) Improvisation #2 of Elegy

of Rainer Maria Rilke's "Lament"

Everything is far
and long gone by.
I think that the star
glittering above me
has been dead for a million years.
I think there were tears
in the car I heard pass
and something terrible was said.
A clock has stopped striking in the hose
across the road....
When did it start?...
I would like to step out of my heart
and go walking beneath the enormous sky.
I would like to pray.
And surely of all the stars that perished
long ago,
one still exists.
I think that I know
which one it is---
which one, at the end of its beam in the sky,
stands like a white city. . .


My Improv':

Gravity is heavy
and long-winded with itself.
I think that the moon
radiating above me
has been tortured for a million years.
I think there was sickness
in the empty tin bowl of a beggar's hands.
A pencil has stopped scratching out the names
on the mortician's list.
I would like to walk out of my eyes
and go laughing along the black ocean.
I would like to sink.
And certainly of all the galaxies that died
alone,
one burned with its arms spread open
and prayed.