In Memory of Helman Kushner
The gravedigger's shirt
went red in the sun,
his boots went black
in the white of the snow:
as if the day had nightened
for the first time,
as if the red earth had never before
gaped its mouth like this-
And the mourners stood like children surprised
before the coming of an hour
that reddened a gravedigger's shirt
and their blood became snow.