Grace is courage to try to put the world
in order through love.
—Hildegard Jone


I.

Yea, Lord!
cowbells, cold streams, warm hills, animals
die, we

die…“ewig, ewig”…Das Lied
                                  Von Der Erde

                                   red red red Der
                                   Erde

Anton Webern’s last words were
es ist aus


Hans Moldenhauer’s
book on the death
tells us about Raymond N. Bell,
American Army cook,
who fired three shots the night of September 15, 1945,
and killed Webern:


Mount Olive, North Carolina
April 7, 1960

“…My husband’s middle name was Norwood. Date of birth was August 16th,
1914. We have one son who will be 21 in June. My husband’s occupation was
a chef in restaurants. He died from alcoholism (September 3, 1955).

   I know very little about the accident. When he came home from the war
he told me he killed a man in the line of duty. I know he worried greatly
over it. Everytime he became intoxicated, he would say, ‘I wish I hadn’t
killed that man.’ I truly think it helped to bring on his sickness. He was a
very kind man who loved everyone. These are the results of war. So many
suffer. I do not know any of the details…”

Sincerely,

(Mrs. Helen S. Bell)


                                                 es ist aus
                                                 that’s all she wrote
                                                 buddy…


II. Scherzo One


come,
o mod grass-hoppers
clad in clod-hoppers

the measure is
MEADOW
MEADOW
MEADOW
MEADOW

four,
square

meadows,
with pastures getting the measure of rivers

the measure is
FLOW-
ER 
FLOW-
ER
FLOW-
ER
ER

a case of
four
roses,

o cloud-hoppers, clad
in wine-dark sequins—

where it ends with beer gardens
tap-dancing, and prancing
small hills dancing
in dance halls

the measure is
MOUNTAIN MOUNTAIN MOUNTAIN MOUNTAIN
MOUNTAIN


“what treads within us
on that red road?”


“next moment
when I leave this room
I shall be just as silly
as all the rest”


III. Purgatorio


          “The Libido is a
           Dolomite;
           an Eagle is an Emblem
           of Desire”

Alt Schluderbach
bei Toblach:

in the Composing/Hut,
in the composing heat

something
“frightfully dark”
come in
the open
window

something “frightfully dark":

talons and pinions!

and a crow come
from under
a sofa!

suffocation:

ANGINA!
AQUILA!

“all against all”

a heart made
of red meat

a raven in
the skin

in the hut
in the art

birds twittering
dead birds

in 
1910



IV. Scherzo Two


          “if your taste has been
           purified in Berlin,
           be prepared
           to have it ruined”

Dear
Pussy Gaylord,
“Possom Galore,”

Mr. Kitty,
poised

in the Showy
Daisy-Flea-Bane

(how sane, how
sanguine it all sounds)

to pounce on
chipmunks
under the porch

Eli, Eli,
lama
sabachthani!

“one often feels one
has got into a pub
or a sty”

the hills
around us
narrow their
yellow eyes
around us;
their claws
click into place
around us

it is a
sunny, bloody,

summer 
morning


V. Finale (Enlargement on Lines by Joel Oppenheimer
                and Charles Olsen)


                       against violets—
                       no defense!

                       again!
                       again!


                       who ran with summer, with
                       tansy



                       whose heart
                       became quiet

                       in the frost
                       of the last

                       chrys-
                       anthemum