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.”

RECASTING

In some world where they do things better

Paradise Lost is a comedy, ending in a marriage

The evidence is all there: Eve and Satan

Were meant for each other. Milton could not

Conceal the strength of their attraction;

Satan softens when he sees her, almost forgetting

Who he is; she hears music when he speaks.

Adam means well, but is the fiance foisted on Eve –

The role Ralph Bellamy plays as he waits

For Cary Grant to cut him out again –

In Act Last, God would play out his role:

The Angry Father Who Finally Forgives

And blesses the errant lovers. Jesus, I think,

Would do well as the wily servant who sets things right.

After the climax, we might see Sin and Death

Performing their vaudeville routines

Which somehow never grow old.