the other view of history

one departed alone
for the sunny shores of charitable amateurs

in the foreign bloc bookstore
one was accused of stealing a plainclothesman's pen
and humble and meek as any lamb
was arrested and led away
by an angry crowd

and taught to play The Badger Game

or let's say the score isn't settled
ay begones all time says unto
one (or another) here is the key
parts company with the fuel of love
weeping in the serai to learn of it
swallowed into a whale's belly like Jonah

to tell the town the town's own news
that it must right otherwheres besides
the polecat gimcrack la-de-da of hill
and Barbados jerks and all the sauce
marshmallows eidolons and other figments float in

to surprise the fleet at sunrise o'er Japan
or upwards fly the colors on a sampan
triune archrival Bavarian Motor Works etc.
melding overalls with cocktail glasses (bet hurrah)

one more in this our exile one has failed
convincingly to play the part of traitor
and Lord Haw-Haw and Miss Tokyo Rose repent