The first one goes about the fundaments of change –
its habits and the extent of its range,
the commonplaces that in time it renders strange.
The second one is concerned with man and matter,
how things are produced, and with their clatter –
the relations that make men thinner or fatter.
The third one is banished for the part he has played.
How would everything have gone had he stayed?
And does his specter at times return there on raid?
The fourth one locks himself up in a library.
Not even the posted guards are wary.
See how his thickening beard makes him look merry.
The fifth one vanishes into his inky text –
a single-volume work with nothing next.
Buried in Highgate. On the map his grave is X’d.
[Previous: The World's Second Funniest Joke]
[Next: The Marks That Matter Most]