James Tate

Audio Player



The Initiation

The long wake continues,
quiet and moronic expressions.
The jowl of the dead
is agape with infinite abandon
as if he were about to sing:
if we concentrate
he may remember the words.

In comes a man with a dog
on a chain; than several others.
The room is bathed
in plaster of paris.
In the background
a deep, abundant fugue has begun.
The piece is dedicated 
to me. How strange,
I thought I was new here.

They stop playing,
file quickly into another room.
As I begin to leave
shafts of darkness reach out
and close the little door.