Thanks for restarting this, Andrew. I've been trying to construct a useful addition since yesterday; sorry for delaying. But I need to find a Collected myself and read more.
In the poem you quote, I think it's that last phrase, "You are involved" that lifts it. It's ambiguous: you are inextricably wound up in this mess, which means you are alive. In love? In trouble? Could be anything.
There's a lot of Kees that's even darker, and I'm still trying to analyze why I like it.
The Coming of the Plague is one like that.