After My Death

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After my death mourn me this way:
 "There was a man-and see: he is no more;
 before his time this man died
 and his life's song in mid-bar stopped;
 and oh, it is sad! One more song he had
 and now the song is gone for good,
 gone for good!

 And it is very sad!-a harp too he had
 a living being and murmurous
 and the poet in his words in it
 all of his heart's secret revealed,
 and all the strings his hand gave breath
 but one secret his heart kept hid,
 round and round his fingers played,
 and one string stayed mute,
 mute to this day!

 And it is sad, very sad!
 All of her days this string moved,
 mute she moved, mute she shook,
 for her song, her beloved redeemer
 she yearned, thirsted, grieved and longed
 as a heart pines for its intended:
 and though he hesitated each day she waited
 and in a secret moan begged for him to come,
 and he hesitated and never came,
 never came!

 And great, great is the pain!
 There was a man-and see: he is no more,
 and his life's song in mid-bar stopped,
 one more song he had to go,
 and now the song is gone for good,
 gone for good!

© Hayyim Nahman Bialik