FROM THE CASEBOOK OF DARKNESS VISIBLE

After his tempestuous affair with Madame Seostris
Darkness Visible, the great detective, seldom slept
Throwing himself into his work with such energy
That he began solving crimes before they were committed.
He had no dog in those days and only the shadow
Of a cat that his arch-nemesis had given him
To seal a temporary truce when they had allied
In their desperate bid to cross the Slough of Despond
In time to prevent the return of the bone-white Lost Dauphin
Whom sufferings and great charisma had driven mad.

We did not write our own adventures in those days;
We pretended to be without vanity and to be surprised
When our amanuenses struck again and our hawklike visages
(All of us had hawklike visages; it was like a badge)
Appeared on the cover of Argosy or The Strand.
Eccentric and economical, perhaps even closefisted,
Darkness Visible had let his cat write about him
And after the cat left, the cat's shadow, who remained.
This shadow, worn out by the detective's furious pace
At last induced him to take a brief vacation
The sad consequences of which we know all too well.

NOTES FROM ALL OVER

The great detective Darkness Visible
Would occasionally give small sums
To St. Anthony who is the patron
Of those who seek. It bothered him
That he could never see Anthony plain
But just a certain shimmer of light
Which would accept his donations.
Later, seldom at a convenient time,
Anthony's pig would come trotting by
With a tax receipt in his mouth. Invited
To share a beer, the pig would accept.