THE LIFE AND DEATH OF HANNIBAL

Oh Hannibal, I wish that I could ride an elephant,

and wipe my boot against an Alp.

I wish that I could suffer like a helmet

and lick sorbets while temples fall.

But you’re the man, hard Hannibal, who plunges

out of camps of edelweiss. You toss

the matrons of Campania to your chocolate boys.

Moustache erect, you call for poison, and you quaff.