U. Calderone: ‘A Funerary Poem’, ‘Free Speech’, ‘If wishes were horses’, and ‘Reminiscent’

U. Calderone: ‘A Funerary Poem’, ‘Free Speech’, ‘If wishes were horses’, and ‘Reminiscent’A Funerary PoemHeraclitus of Ephesus(after Callimachus)Knowing that you are dead, Heraclitus,The spring can no longer follow winter. I remember when walkingAmong the vines,How we dwelt upon various philosophies,And “tired the sun with talkingAnd sent him down the sky”. U. CalderoneIf wishes were horses“Oh if to dance all night and dress all day,Charmed the small pox and chased old age away”. Oh if to entertain all night,And watch your vast wealth increase all day,Could keep the bone-white cancerAnd dreary death at bay. To summon up the memory’s stinging smart,Becomes a heart-breaking regret;The vivisection of the heart,A bitterness that like life’s mindless cruelty,One cannot overcome or forget.