Charles Simic

Charles Simic, the fifteenth Poet Laureate of the United States, was born Dusan Simic on May 9th 1938 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia; his childhood was overshadowed by the Second World War, and images of bombings and

Charon's Cosmology

by Charles Simic (1938–2023)

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15

With only his dim lantern

To tell him where he is

And every time a mountain

Of fresh corpses to load up

Take them to the other side

Where there are plenty more

I’d say by now he must be confused

As to which side is which

I’d say it doesn’t matter

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