death is inevitable. But the meaning peple attach to death, its causes and aftermath, is culturally given. Without meaning, without culture making sense of things, life would be impossible.

The other day I heard in the movies
a man sing a song, just like he told
your own troubles; he sang so beautiful.
just like you feel it,
it was just like in life: your ambitions
when you're young, and end up
in a shoe store; it was so good,
and everybody clapped
as if he could hear from the screen,
it was so beautiful
how he sang.

---

we drop in the evening like dew
upon the ground and the living
feel it on their faces. Death
soft, moist everywhere upon us,
soon to cover the living
as they drop. This explains
the ocean and the sun.