Berryman, Dream Song :

79

         
             Op. posth. no. 2

 
Whence flew the litter whereon he was laid?
Of what heroic stuff was warlock Henry made?
and questions of that sort
perplexed the bulging cosmos, O in short
was sandalwood in good supply when he
flared out of history

 
& the obituary in the New York Times
into the world of generosity
creating the air where are
& can be, only, heroes?  Statues & rhymes
signal his fiery Passage, a mountainous sea,
the occlusion of a star:

 
anything afterward, of high lament,
let too his giant faults appear, as sent
together with his virtues down
and let this day be his, throughout the town,
region & cosmos, lest he freeze our blood
with terrible returns.