On an empty sarcophagus
hewn out of alabaster,
A branch of fennel on an
empty sarcophagus…
Nothing suggests accident
where the beast
Is finishing her rest…
Smoke of ultramarine and amber
Floats above the fields after
Moonlit rains, from tree unto tree
Distils the radiance of a king…
You might as well see the new branch of Enkidu;
And that is no new thing either…
—Christopher Okigbo
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