Manolis Anagnostakis - THE DEAD MAN

All wore black ties
Rehearsed broken-hearted postures before their mirrors
The first lamentations began to be heard. the grievous laudations.

But the dead man would not die on the appointed hour.

Finally the hours dragged into days
Those dreadful days of waiting
His friends began to protest
Closed their offices, stopped all payments
Their children wandered in the streets like outcasts.
They watched flowers withering.

But the dead man would not die on the appointed hour.

(So many many things never foreseen
So many incalculable consequences, so many sacrifices,
To what responsible person can you protest, where can you shout?)

And the dead man would not die on the appointed hour.