Ghost Story

Amulet design from the Poule aux œufs d'or (Hen with the golden eggs) grimoire, or book of spells

Who will rid me of this Teague

fou—

Un fou qui se croyait Albert Camus ? †

Jean-Paul Sartre's specter gave a vengeful shout,

And four ghost Existentialists sprang out, in league

From the Cimetière du Montparnasse, though dead,

To whack Samuel Beckett's wraith upside the head—

Simone de Beauvoir, interred near the place,

Lamented not having chosen rather Pére Lachaise!

What has Undoing, then, in store for you and me

If such the ructions of the zombie wise?

Fear not! We've won no Nobel Prize!

Not worth a tinker's dam in Existential eyes,

I count me happy to be so obscure,

Though tempted, I admit, by fame's allure.

† A lunatic who thinks he's Albert Camus. "Teague" (or Taig): British sobriquet for a stage Irishman, deriving from the once ubiquitous Erse given name Tadhg.

Sunday, June 1, 2025