I dreamed I was in a foreign city
Traveling with my wife
Everyone’s speaking Italian
And we’re in a book shop
They still have them
And that’s the kind of place
We always end up
And she speaks well enough
To tell them what she’s looking for
Books on masks, le maschere
Or some such, and although I’m with her
And could ask my wife for help
In expressing what I’m looking for
I can’t get the words out of my mouth
I need the Italian words or phrases
For the people who work in cemeteries
Becchini, no, the people who specifically
Shovel the dirt, imprenditore di pompe funebri
No, not the casket sellers or the groundskeepers,
But the dirt shovelers, the grave diggers, in Italian
Them, and only them! That is key. No, not giardiniere
Gardeners, no, it must be specific, current, accurate,
And I must have it now, this instant
As I am writing a book about death and dying
For there is so much of it around us
Surely my book will become very popular
And I will write this book in Italian
A language I do not know
So I must have this word
I must have it to begin.