Riff On Mpho Leteng's Don'T Stand Aroubd My Grave And Weep Poem by David McLansky

Don’t stand around my grave and weep,
Compressing the earth beneath your feet,
Red eyed, mumbling in your moans,
Searching for means to atone;

For in life you fled my eye,
Your talk , a jumble of planted lies,
Avoiding my voice at any cost,
So that all sense of meaning was soon lost;

Now I lay beneath your feet,
You have the freedom to be indiscreet,
To use my headstone as a pulpit
To name me as the only culprit;

For in my voice were barbs of truth,
That you avoided in your youth;
Now that my silence is assured,
Your thoughts more scrambled and more labored