MCMV

I
I think I've heard this song before-
The bitter drag of the mandolin
Across the twilight saxophone.
The record lights the gramophone
With dreary dirges, violet flames-
Endeavors to engage them in refrains,
Which topple 'neath the melody.

II
I think I've known these coffee stains,
The dirty fabric of the years.
We've sat and talked, shed endless tears,
And still our conversation wages.
It waxes on appropriations
And paints a scene of angel cages.
We've twice usurped the rebels' cause.

III
I think I've prayed of those very faces,
The chiseled forms of marble gods.
Ulysses taught me all the laws
Of Tartarus and Camden Town.
He taught me how to wield the crown
And how to spurn the scepter's might.
He read me virtue's eulogy.

IV
I think I've smoked that same white pipe
Which bears the likeness of the King.
The stem is chipped and broken where
The clay has lost its former strength,
And all around old Edward's bowl,
A dirty soot obscures the length.
(We ought have smoked the Chancellor.)

V
I think I've heard this song before,
Resounding from the Queen's estate,
With Charles singing harmony.
And thank you to Palladio.
(Though no one ever thanks the Greeks
Because, it's said, they got it wrong.)

Well, thank you to the Greeks.

4 January 2008