 | Romance and revery |  |
78
NAPOLEON'S HEART.
“Imperial Cæsar, dead and turned to clay.
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.”
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.”
Napoleon in Saint Helena lay dead;
And when the corpse had borne the embalmer's art,
A certain English doctor, it is said,
Placed in a silver basin by his bed
The Emperor's heart.
And when the corpse had borne the embalmer's art,
A certain English doctor, it is said,
Placed in a silver basin by his bed
The Emperor's heart.
At either side this precious thing he set
An exorcising taper, slim and still;
And though he lay with eyes averted, yet
His curious charge he could but ill forget,
And slumbered ill.
An exorcising taper, slim and still;
And though he lay with eyes averted, yet
His curious charge he could but ill forget,
And slumbered ill.
Now, after ugly dreams that shocked him sore,
He woke at last to hear, when night was late,
A scrambling noise that loudened more and more,
A splash—and the dull falling to the floor
Of a dead weight.
He woke at last to hear, when night was late,
A scrambling noise that loudened more and more,
A splash—and the dull falling to the floor
Of a dead weight.
79
He leapt from bed and saw with wild surprise
The vessel void, and overturned at that;
And saw as well, (could he believe his eyes?)
Dragging the heart along, in greedy wise,
A monstrous rat!
The vessel void, and overturned at that;
And saw as well, (could he believe his eyes?)
Dragging the heart along, in greedy wise,
A monstrous rat!
The grim thief, once discovered, fled dismayed ...
And yet that heart whose vast dreams could control
Europe, and at whose pleasure thrones were swayed,
Just missed the ironic fate of being laid
In a rat's hole!
And yet that heart whose vast dreams could control
Europe, and at whose pleasure thrones were swayed,
Just missed the ironic fate of being laid
In a rat's hole!
| Romance and revery | |