Bartleby from A to Z

A bit of background on Bartleby.

————

Bartleby,

no children, he,

when in his youth and fancy free

was laying ’neath a chestnut tree,

his back upon a burl,

when that knot

rubbed such a spot

between his ribs, pained like a shot,

and so he said he’d rather not

though she’d prepared to whirl.

But this poor lass

would take no sass

(for she had stones of solid brass),

and kicked him in his sassafras

so hard, it made him hurl,

and so said he,

“That’s not for me—

a bachelor for eternity!

A scrivener’s what I’m meant to be.”

A churl without a girl.

But then this fellow,

turning mellow,

all bravado paling yellow,

facing fate with spine of Jell-O,

saw he’d lost his pearl.

He was hired,

but soon fired;

in his grief employers mired.

All alone, no children sired,

he heard pipers’ skirl.

In his hell,

a private cell

where no one came—none knew him well—

a tragic death to him befell,

his lonely mind aswirl.

By Ken Gosse

From: United States

Facebook URL: https://www.facebook.com/ken.gosse/