Wednesday, April 22, 2015

THE FIRST AND SECOND DEATHS OF MERIWETHER LEWIS



Having shot himself with the Gironi airgun
Lewis died not far from the
Platte River.
Clark and Sacagawea wrapped the body
In a tattered buffalo robe and buried it
On a night when the moon was too worn
To make accusations. York and Charbonneau,
The old voyageur, worked until dawn
Making a new Lewis from corncobs and clay.
When there was just enough daylight
To tell a blue and green thread apart, York
Wrote "porquoi?" on the simulacrum's right foot
While Chabonneau wrote "porquoi non?" on the left.
Most felt the new Lewis was an improvement
And were sorry when, a few years later, it too
Found the burden of being Meriwether Lewis
Too much for anyone to have to bear.

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