She was so afraid

Since her mother, white with time,

Told her

She was a failure



She was so ashamed

Of everything she said

And everything she did

For her mother, white with time



Everything around her mother

White with time

And dirty

Her mother was greedy with dirt

Greedy



Then she heard choirs of angels

Singing choirs of angels

Greedy angels

Spitting glory on her failure

That stardust of failure

As if it was medicine that didn't work

Any way

Anyway

The windows

They were closed

And the midwives had locked their doors

They didn't understand

And after all, what was there to understand?

But the angels

Sheer choirs of angels

In a friendship

No, more than a friendship

It was a marriage

A marriage made in the grave



In the shivering night

The searching of the river continued

That bullet of searchlight

That searchlight

found her so cockleshell and sure

Sick and tired of what she saw

But cockleshell and sure



Sure of what the world had offered a tired soul

From Istanbul to Madrid

From Reykjavik, to Bonn

To Leipzig, to Leningrad

To Shanghai, Pnonm Penh

All so that it would be a stronger world

A strong, though loving, world

To die in