Pope Hadrian VII


POPE HADRIAN VII

“the usual loungers 
and pleasure seekers”
—Frederick Rolfe, 
Baron Corvo, Pope Hadrian VII

I was hardly disappointed, my dears—
After Pope Benedict XVI abdicated

And the Vatican didn’t choose me—
To be St. Peter’s new Vivacious Vicar 

But it’s not I who had lost the Vatican—
It’s the Vatican who had lost me, my dear

So when the Cardinals slank up to me—
I civilly shooed them from my gondola 

I raised my drawbridge and told them—
I was beyond parleys from the heights

Never anymore would I seek them out—
Those stuttering little Chrysostom priests

With their Mad Hatter insane tiaras—
Right out of ALICE IN WONDERLAND

I had my own Temple of the Holy Ghost—
My muscular young Venice gondolier

I’d rescued Zildo from an earthquake—
After that we sailed the Adriatic Sea




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