after ‘Orpheus and Eurydike’, choreographed by Pina Bausch
Noise, and Smoke
i
‘This is cruel of you; heartless, even!’
‘Then let us go and ask her.’ He said.
‘There are rules and regulations.’
All there wore cloaks of red and black:
he met his questioners. ‘Who will speak
for you?’ Where is your guide?’
Here were puzzles he could not plumb;
where was his guide? He turned, saw none.
Alone, then, with oneself before the judges:
‘My guide is my love for Europina’.
‘Pass’, one said. ‘to the next one.’
ii
‘Never to look at her, never to see
her face.’ ‘Not blinded, though: too easy…’;
No hand’s soothing her soft … contour!’
‘Her hurts or injuries.’ ‘Not to hear
her passing…’, ‘swished clothes…’ , ‘hiss of sheer
silks …’. ‘Nor know the scent of her…’, ‘imprint
of lipstick…’, ‘choice of perfume…’, ‘the mint
of her toothpaste in the bathroom.’, ‘trespass
of her shower’s condensation on cold glass!’
iii
‘If you agree with all points then you can go to her
One slip and you will lose even memory of her.
Do you agree?’
He said, ‘I know you now, you are
the angels of the intermediate realms; I have already
passed beyond you. Lawyers and legislators,
I am already free of you; I have entered
all the gates despite of you. None of you
asked her for her choice. Not one
thought it necessary to defer to her. Why is that?’
‘It is too late now,’ they said, ‘for you. For her.
We all are the lost here.’
michael9murray 