Truinas, April 21, 2001" is Philippe Jaccottet's meditation on his long friendship with André du Bouchet (1924-2001) as well as on the poet's funeral, an event that provokes memories of their fi rst meeting a half-century earlier, their literary affi nities (notably their common literary admiration for the poetry of Friedrich Hölderlin), particularly vivid perceptions of the natural surroundings of Du Bouchet's house in the south of France, and, not least, doubts-scruples-about the very possibility of writing truly and honestly about death.' - John Taylor