Ah -
It was not death for I stood up
And all the dead, lie down
It was not night, for all the bells
Put out their tongues for moon

No more shall white cranes wake and cry

No more shall white cranes wake…

Like rain it sounded till it curved
And then I knew 'twas wind
It walked as wet as any wave
And swept as dry as sand

Far…this house has been far out all night
Far out at sea

No longer, no more
Cranes no longer wake in the meadows
Wake and cry
As if my life were shaven
And fitted to a frame
And could not breathe

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground
And swallows calling
And frogs in the pools singing at night
And wild plum trees
And not one will know of war, not one will care
Not one will mind
If mankind perished
And spring herself when she woke at dawn
Would scarcely know that we were gone.

No more shall white cranes wake and cry

Like midnight
When everything that ticks has stopped
and space stares

Wind…we watch…
Wind flexing like the lens of a mad eye
We watch…seeing the window tremble to come in
We watch…hearing the stones cry out under the horizon

No more, no longer shall white cranes wake

Far, far out
This house has been far out all night
Far out at sea

All living bodies have turned to dust
All, all, all have gone
Into stones, into water, into clouds