Passing of the interior

Booted geese walked here once

until the time of their slaughter

an epic place, a monument

to a nightmare, intended as

the epicenter of empire,

marble polished with the hearts

of millions, washed in blood,

according to the literal interpretation

it did not, could not, survive, once

good men did something.

so it is always

Painting: Interior by Anselm Kiefer; oil, acrylic and paper on canvas, 1981. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Kiefer’s painting is taken from photographs of the Mosaic Hall designed by Albert Speer for Adolf Hitler’s New Reich Chancellery (above). The massive structure was bombed during World War II and later torn down.