Dept. of Found Poetry

The last two out of nine stanzas of "One Thousand Fearful Words for Fidel Castro."  Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 1961.  

I was sitting in Mike’s Place, Fidel

waiting for someone else to act

like a good Liberal

I hadn’t quite finished reading Camus’ Rebel

So I couldn’t quite recognize you, Fidel

walking up and down your island

when they came for you, Fidel

“My Country or Death” you told them

Well you’ve got your little death, Fidel

like old Honest Abe

one of your boyhood heroes

who also had his little Civil War

and was a different kind of Liberator

(since no one was shot in his war)

and also was murdered

in the course of human events

Fidel… Fidel…

your coffin passes by

thru lanes and streets you never knew

thru day and night, Fidel

While lilacs last in the dooryard bloom, Fidel

your futile trip is done

yet is not done

and is not futile

I give you my sprig of laurel

Found in The Voice that is Great Within Us; American Poetry of the Twentieth Century, edited by Hayden Carruth.  Bantam Books, 1970.

Fidel Castro, 84, lives in Havana, Cuba.  He retired in December, 2010.

However, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, active at 91, could still get the chance to eulogize Mr. Castro.