AUTHOR’S FRIEND

Posted by Admin on 2 April 2008, 12:00 am

For the life that I lived by your kindness –
all the wealth you ungrudgingly shared –
through the years of your fame and good fortune,
until now when your wits are impaired.
The palazzo that stands near Ravenna,
with its opulence, women, and wine;
where Old Masters were yours, but, to counter,
your new mistress, in secret, was mine.
For the pleasures afloat that you gave me,
when your yachts were the topic at Cannes;
for the box that I used at La Scala,
I intend to repay you, old man.
I’m most grateful for days spent at Longchamps,
making contact with nabob and knave;
how I thank you for dwarfing my stature,
and the snub an ambassadress gave.
For your critical eye on my writing –
‘an attenuate talent’ – ‘a hack’!
When you’re dead I shall do your life-story,
and thus stab you, my friend, in the back.