Paul Klee's Death and Fire

Bedside Companion

A painting by Klee hangs over my bed,

Man, rake and sphere frame a sinister head.

A cornered pilgrim digs into the clay,

Hello Mr Death, have you been long away?

I balance my sphere in the palm of one hand,

With fingers unseen I sprinkle my sand

I tilt two blank eyes and peer into you,

The pilgrim with spade knows not what to do,

But he's found what he knows, alas the poor fool,

Delving in clay with his skull-shaped tool,

He shovels up a face with a twisted grin,

Death holds up his sphere with a light therein.

See its blue orange glow? It's the pilgrim's soul

Which trembles and balances, about to roll

(the pilgrim's head is a round black hole).

Death holds up the sphere on a waiter's tray,

No eyes reveal his profound dismay,

Yet a rake is suspended over Death's own head

Death, thou shalt die is what John Donne said.

©Terry Hodgson2020

Death the Waiter

Behold Death the waiter.

High on his tray he carries a sphere

and behind his empty eyes

see how he glows, sends an appeal.

I am coming your way says Death,

looking quizzical, certain of himself,

Come to my empty room he says,

not fearsomely but absently,

balancing the sphere on his right hand.

Look, this is life. Take it. It is yours,

not mine to take. The future is not yet.

Live. Do not descend, unless it is

to fetch, to find. When you look back

you know Eurydice will disappear

in the evening glow. Forget

the knock on the evening door.

©Terry Hodgson2025