TELEGRAM

TELEGRAM

I got the telegram
from Bergman’s gloomy
chess player

before I could
chisel any kind of epitaph
even a self-effacing joke one

the chisel was blunt anyway
and I have no skill
in this matter
            and my Latin
and French are so weak
no hope there of going out
with an epigram
      strident
              or mellifluous

no, I guess
they need to find
        a better home for
such fine
          unmarked stone.