OCCUPATION

Sometime in early 1917

The Emperor Franz Josef

Began playing himself

In Esther's dreams.

He was a bit sheepish

But explained that as a ghost

He found himself at loose ends

And lonely. None of his courtiers

Turned out to have liked him

"Heaven," said one, "means knowing

I need never listen to you again"

Other emperors were no help

Charlemagne goggled at him

And spoke, anyway,

A weird proto-German

The Emperor Rudolph

Was always in his lab

Attempting to transform

This into that and back again.

Charles the Fifth brooded endlessly

That the Hapsburgs no longer

Ruled Mexico or the Netherlands.

My grandmother assumed

She gone a trifle mad

Sooner than she'd expected

Despite repeated assurances

That he wasn't an illusion

But merely a ghost. Once

She woke up with

A yellow and blue medal

Held in her left hand,

The Order of the Iron Crown,

First Class, making her

A privy councillor

Properly addressed as

"Your Excellency."