RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS
Death Songs
The Lakota, Cheyenne and Navajo
All sing their songs of death
At the hour of the reckoning
To welcome eternal rest
Big Foot sang at Wounded Knee
Frozen on the barren land
Black Kettle sang at Sand Creek
Where he made his final stand
As the sun sets on our varied lives
We seek a vision that will please
As basic as the call to prayer
That bends us to our knees
Dickinson sang her song of death
Praising nature and painting dreams
Freud sang his song of death
Its final notes neither heard nor seen
Mozart sang his requiem
Until it placed him in his grave
All the earthly saints sang prayers
One last soul to save
Whitman at the appointed hour
Sang of self and lovely flowers
Yeats sang of lovers lost
A lament of such a woeful cost
We sing our songs of soulful sorrow
Uncertain what will be tomorrow
But on the hour of our last day
We yield to bow our heads and pray
We sing of things we might have done
Battles lost and battles won
We dive into the deep unknown
Not knowing whether we have grown
Enough to make it right
We sing so long, farewell, goodnight
