The Man with the Blue Guitar XXIII

A few final solutions, like a duet

With the undertaker: a voice in the clouds,

Another on earth, the one a voice

Of ether, the other smelling of drink.

The voice of ether prevailing, the swell

Of the undertaker’s song in the snow

Apostrophizing wreaths, the voice

In the clouds serene and final, next

The grunted breath serene and final.

The imagined and the real, thought

And the truth, Dichtung und Wahrheit, all

Confusion solved, as in a refrain

One keeps on playing year by year.

Concerning the nature of things as they are.