Edward Hirsch, In memoria di Paul Celan, una poesia

In Memoriam Paul Celan  

 
Lay these words into the dead man's grave
next to the almonds and black cherries---
tiny skulls and flowering blood-drops, eyes,
and Thou, O bitterness that pillows his head.

Lay these words on the dead man's eyelids
like eyebrights, like medieval trumpet flowers
that will flourish, this time, in the shade.
Let the beheaded tulips glisten with rain.

Lay these words on his drowned eyelids
like coins or stars, ancillary eyes.
Canopy the swollen sky with sunspots
while thunder addresses the ground.

Syllable by syllable, clawed and handled,
the words have united in grief.
It is the ghostly hour of lamentation,
the void's turn, mournful and absolute.

Lay these words on the dead man's lips
like burning tongs, a tongue of flame.
A scouring eagle wheels and shrieks.
Let God pray to us for this man.
 

From Earthly Measures by Edward Hirsch, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Copyright © 1994 Edward Hirsch. Used with permission. 

Edward Hirsch è nato a Chicago in 1950 e ha studiato al Grinnell College e alla University of Pennsylvania.  E' stato professore di Inglese alla Wayne State University e alla University of Houston. Ha pubblicato diverse raccolte di poesie, alcune delle quali hanno vinto prestigiosi premi americani, come il National Book Critics Circle Award e il Rome Prize della  American Academy di Roma. E' attualmente presidente della John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.