The Beggar at the Gate

By Robert James DeBurgh (Poet)

I have not seen him there of late,
Suppurating pustules bubbling on his face,
His skin so full of holes as Belgian Lace,
The Beggar at The Gate.

Mucus, green and grey, trailed from his nose.
And flies, so many flies crawled in his eyes.
And worms fed on his ulcerated thighs,
But his leprous hands could not brush away those.

So I asked Hamid, the one-eyed Tinker
"What the bugger happened to that Beggar at the Gate?"
And he said "Bits fell off him mate
So the street sweepers just shovelled up the old Stinker!"

CODA:
Alas! Alas! and HALLELULIAH!!
'twill ne'er more be my fate
To see that shit-heap by the Gate.

Athens, 1897

NOTE:
This is the famous "Beggar at the Gate" secret message of DeBurgh. It has been suggested that this poem, if poem it may be called, contains the key to DeBurgh's other works: A kind of "Rosetta Stone" for unravelling the messages or meanings in the others.

Unfortunately, it is not known how it works...... or indeed, IF it works.....

B. Svertlovich, Chevalier de Dux, T. Smegwich and many many other Noted Historians of the Master, dedicated their lives to unravelling this particular Mystery. All to no avail.
Sad really, isn't it??

NOTES ON PROVENANCE:
This Work, formerly the property of Ioannedes Karamanlis, owner of the "Horny Mule" Cafe, in Athens Plaka District, came to the The Society through the good offices of Sister Sebastian O'Toole of the Little Sisters of Procreation, headquartered in Piraeus. The Good Sister, whose Order is reknowned for ministering to the sick and diseased (Cardinals, Bishops etc (oh yes, and the poor...)) discovered this Work among certain recipes for Ointments used for the treatment of various, Errr.. "Sinful" Ailments.....

Both the Recipe and the Work bore the autograph of Robert James DeBurgh (Poet).