18th Brumaire

When Napoleon declared the French parliament defunct,
representatives beat him up. A couple hundred miles away,
Beethoven scribbled over his own dedication to Napoleon,
whom he had supposed to be a champion of liberty.


As climbing the greasy pole goes, 
this wasn't exactly polished. 
He was roughed-up - by politicos! 
Can't blame them: no-one likes being abolished 

(for sure, not these ego-bloated shysters!) 
What else? Oh, in a paroxysm of rage, 
an eccentric Kapellmeister 
gouged a hole in a music page. 

For all his smiling talk of ease and glee 
(tomorrow), his eloquent implorings, 
this moment always comes. 
The pipes get drowned by drums. 
The sleek ship of self-regard, so sleazily, 
drifts free of its decent moorings.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2026

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