THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN AND SOME GHOSTS

The stars, said the Abbot Trimetheus,
Were exactly right. Should Maximilian wish
He might converse that night with ghosts
But only three. Summoning more would imperil
Both their souls. What spirits, then,
Did the Emperor wish to see roused
From their uneasy sleep?

The results, as recorded by the scribes,
Were mixed. Alexander the Great was away
Conjured by some Tuscan sorcerer
His son, also Alexander, came in his place.
He was chatty but, having been poisoned at 14
Had no useful strategic advice to offer .
Julius Caesar, bored with himself, insisted
On talking about carpets and the rules of prosody.
The last ghost -- whose husband Max had been
Until the Pope said otherwise -- was pleased
He'd remembered her;  she said that death
Wasn't nearly so bad as she'd expected.

AESRED'S PATCHWORK

It feels brave to sail a ghostly galleon

Across purple seas but the day comes

When the owner wants profit, not romance;

The market in gypsy ribbons is depressed

There are few buyers for hair like moldy hay.

Years ago such ships in lean times

Might ferry ghosts across the Channel.

Frenchmen – you can look this up –

Used to itch to leave France when they died;

Caesar saw their ghosts crowding the sides

Of vessels that sat low in the water.

What will our deceased wives say

If we come back after so many years

Without money, without songs,

Our pockets stuffed only with ribbons?

SANS BRUTALITE

According to the scholar Donald Keene
French trains used to have signs
Urging that windows be opened

Vivement mais sans brutalite
Vigorously, but without brutality;
If my father were here I would tell him this
As well as Junius Brutus Booth’s decision
To play Julius Caesar on tiptoe.