Mendelssohn's tears

Mendelssohn's tears drip onto my face,

Fei Ye's eyes are like the eyes of the dead.

Raging wind rise, Beethoven's storm peels off the roof,

The Gulag Archipelago floats in my dead head.

Mendelssohn's tears drip onto my face,

Schumann's nerves spread from roof to floor,

Mandelstam passes the cold of exile into my body,

The American Gulag Archipelago lies limp in my dead head.

Mendelssohn's tears drip onto my face,

Stars on the sky glint like wolves' eyes,

The wind of human cruelty blows from ancient caves,

The craggy Gulag Archipelago is slightly shaken.

Writing date: 1988, Berkeley, California.

Posted on Nov 5, 2018.