LIBRARIANS

It took Borges less than half Eternity

To catalogue the Infinite Library

Even allowing for coffee breaks,

Alcohol breaks, cigarette breaks,

Afternoon sitting in the sun breaks

And long walks with Pierre Menard

And the Tichborne Claimant.

“I could have done it quicker,” he told

A seminar of angels who, in his honor,

Conjured themselves out of pauses,

Questions and respectful silences,

“Had Homer and Milton not assisted

But they would not be put off.”

 “Are they,” a seraph signed,

More blind, then, than you?”

“No,” said Borges, “but I am blind

In Spanish; the work goes faster.”

NEWS FROM THE AFTERWORLD

Borges, bored with being dead,
Decided to return as three notes
From a tango to which he had listened
In Geneva when he was seventeen
And studying for his baccalaureate
The authorities refused; those three notes
Were spoken for. Very well he would be content
To be  a gleam of light on a dagger blade
Drawn during a back alley fight
On June 14, 1901. "Really, Senor Borges,"
Said the authorities, "Consider our feelings!
We do not these days trade in melodrama."
Arbitrators were called in; or perhaps they simply
Had been drinking nearby. Negotiations continue
But observers say there’s little hope of resolution
Any time soon. Consult this poem for developments.