Gerhard Mantz, Left Hand of Darkness
You left ground and sky weeping,
mind and soul full of grief.
No one can take your place in existence,
or in absence. Both mourn, the angels, the prophets,
and this sadness I feel has taken from me
the taste of language, so that I cannot say
the flavor of my being apart.
The roof of the kingdom within has collapsed.
When I say the word you, I mean a hundred universes.
Pouring grief water or secret dripping
in the heart, eyes in the head,
or eyes of the soul, I saw yesterday
that all these flow out to find you
when you're not here.
That bright firebird Saladin
went like an arrow,
and now the bow trembles and sobs.
If you know how to weep
for human beings, weep for Saladin.
