Dirge for an Earthworm
O that my falling tears could
thy desiccated form revive
Or failing thus, I could thee elevate
Raise thee up on a marble stele
and there inscribe thy heroism
What philosopher of ancient school
was as unstained by vice as thee?
No greed, nor hate, nor vanity
besmirched thy little soul
More generous were thy legacies,
than any potentate or king
By alchemies thou did the elements combine,
air and earth by hidden arts entwined,
greened the ground, bedecked the sward
in ornaments of Solomon
Courage was thy banner
No champion of steel did contend,
with monsters more perilous or proud
Against ornithory dragons,
fanged horrors, claws and stings
Smooth cunning was thy shield
warding off adversity
Until at length thy fearless questing
led thee to a wilderness most desolate,
more horrible than Tartarus
Thy last enemy, that fiery eye, the tyrant of the day
Took thy noble life but preserved the mortal shroud
Let my shadow serve thee for a sepulcher
Sing it not it in the heights of ash and oak
Let ballads of the morning air convert to wails of woe
For my serpentine paladin,
Lies slain upon a slab of Roman stone