Lullaby For Thomas Mann Poem by Michael Esdaile Walker

"We don't believe in ought,
all is naught save living well"
Sage Nietzsche said, thumb in wind.
He could tell a hawk when he saw one.

Heroes in crutches in tin trains
Welcoming Munich and Siberia.
Moscow's tryst hands
Bitten off or burned or snapped in frost.
Does the rampallion's demented task determine
Whether and when we roll over to rot?
Or does she seduce us, my Lady Justice?
Leverkühn's racking pain
Surging again.
Poverino! Poverino!
Dread Desolation
Esmerelda pleasing
Joseph clinging
In a coat of many colours
For his life.

Be still mein Freund and patriot be calm

Great sinners smacked their lips on earth
I know. Be calm.
Er hat es immer gut gemeint,
Du hast es aber gut gemeint
Oh möge es so sein,
You turned upon yourself
Betrug und Schein,
Thomas Mann mein treuer Freund
Sleep Holy Sinner,
Listen to that strain again
Er wartet schon,
Oh heavenly Gods er wartet!
Er wartet, er wartet.
Oh möge es so sein,
Schlaf jetzt, schlaf,
Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf,
The boy in your life to the sea has run
One arm lifted to the sky;
Tadzio charms with tainted breath
And in whose kind arms
But the sea's
Shall you find Him?