A Roman Burial
in him those brave
translunary things
Michael Drayton
1. Police Report
Not the hustler,
a boy you’d loved—the Roman
convicted of your murder
on the beaches of Ostia.
Or Maria Callas singing,
Ecco il velen di Laura. . .
It was the stolen film rolls,
and the Mafia, discreetly
extorting you, Pier Paolo, for Saló—
2. Post-Mortem
A pipe; smashed testicles.
Run over by my own car—
my carcass, a receptacle
on fire. What a lonely bastard