A Posthumous Poem by Tom Disch

A Reverie by the Shore

We all respect you, Sir, for the violence
of your death. Who'd ever heard of a stingray
turning its tail into a spear
and thrusting it in someone's heart?
What can one say but Wow, way to go!
I walked once alongside a ray, at dawn,
drawn from the shore step by step, entranced.
Could it have done the same with me?
The sea has so many ways to kill a person.
But your death was as though Ocean himself
had crushed you with a single kiss.

April 19, 2008