Gestern, am 02.03.2011, starb mit John Haines einer der bedeutendsten Lyriker, die Alaska bisher hervorgebracht hat. Im Andenken an diesen großen Literaten des Nordens, hier eines seiner Gedichte:
Young Man
I seemed always standing
before a door
to which I had no key,
although I knew it hid behind it
a gift for me.
Until one day I closed
my eyes a moment, stretched
then looked once more.
And not surprised, I did not mind it
when the hinges creaked
and, smiling, Death
held out his hands to me.