I loved him because he was he I loved his eyes when they lit up with an idea. Actually they were rather small Not at all beautiful In the Greek sense Not at all glamorous In the Hollywood sense But when they lit up with a thought There was a life in them, A warm brown glow That brought life to mine No, they were not beautiful In the Greek sense But there was an intelligence in them And a kindness And because he was he I loved him. Today we walked with reluctant steps Along the last path The sound of the Hebrew chant United well with the scrape Of our feet on the gravel Even with the sound of the spade Against the unwilling stone I hardly listened to the words I was thinking of other reluctant steps Of other reluctant steps Of other spades against unwilling stones. And I thought He has died in a good time And in a good way And he would have been the first to agree And his eyes would have lit up. He would have been the first to agree That any Jew of his generation Who died among his own people At a moment after victory After a life that saw Revolution Flight War Reluctant feet mounting cattle cars Reluctant feet entering gas chambers Died in a good time And he would have said it In that pedantic endearing way he had He would have said Such a Jew died in a good time Died in a god way After victory Among his own people.