Lament

Lament


Son, my son!

I will go up to the mountain
and there I shall light a fire
to the feet of my son's spirit,
and there I will lament him;
saying,
Oh, my son,
What is my life to me,
now that you are departed?

Son, my son,
in the deep earth
we softly laid thee in a Chief's robe,
in a warrior's gear.

Surely there
in the spirit land
thy deeds attend thee!
Surely,
the corn comes to the ear again!

But I, here,
I am the stalk that the seed-gatherers
descrying empty, afar, left standing.
Son, my son,
what is my life to me,
now that you are departed?

Lament of a Man for his Son