From “Homage to Cesare Pavese,” in The Other Side of the River (1984):
…
Death will come and it will have your eyes,
Ridiculous vice
and the same look.
You are the great weariness.
You are scorched and burned back by the sea.
You say nothing,
and nobody speaks to you.
This is a balance sheet and the names don’t count.
One nail on top of another,
four nails make a cross.
Nothing can add to the past–
Woman is as woman does,
and night is always the night.
With its black heart and black hands it lays me down.
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