So that’s what you want to know? Who is this baron?
Why, it’s he who planned and resolved it all.
He’s of our history, but neither its parent
nor its child. He appears at its most volatile
moments when no one seems to be in charge,
or later on when things have begun to settle.
He’s in these pages in curio and at large –
the faceless one sitting by the kettle
whom we scarcely notice until we’re all in bed
and think of him quietly twirling his mustaches
as we discussed the living and the dead,
recalled who survived and who fell in those clashes.
He’s not always like that – sometimes he’s a joker.
He’s left behind his magical poker.
Go get it! Now that he’s gone we’ll stir the ashes.
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