Heads sunk between their shoulder blades, defeated,
Homeward they wend, no poor thin line of heroes.
They are not by parades triumphal greeted,
Nor no confetti falls—they sulk mistreated
And slink back to their dens, these less-than-zeroes,
Heads sunk between their shoulder blades, defeated
As zero classed their valor which was meted
Stunning reversal: serving dreams like Nero’s
They are not by parades triumphal greeted.
Laugh at the vanity! Ambitions cheated,
Such as did serve some weird perverted Eros,
Heads sunk between their shoulder blades, defeated,
They wind them home, no sympathy excreted
For them, as they that so berated “queeros,”
They are not by parades triumphal greeted.
Ah, vanity! Who knows, their pomp depleted,
What they are left to take back to their bureaus?
Heads sunk between their shoulder blades, defeated,
They are not by parades triumphal greeted.