Ballade by Don Marquis
 

Embedded in the pages of “archy and mehitabel” is one of my favorite poems – a ballade with a double refrain. The poet complicated it further by making “leg” the central rhyme word, which leads to some bizarre usages (to this day I don't know what a chass daf is – does anyone?) Nevertheless, the sheer inventiveness and air of morbid merriment have always delighted me. So here, with the original lack of punctuation, is the poem:

IN THE CATACOMBS

outcast bones from a thousand biers
click us a measure giddy and gleg
and caper my children dance my dears
skeleton rattle your mouldy leg
that one was a gourmet round as a keg
and that had the brow of semiramis
o fleshless forehead bald as an egg
all men s lovers come to this

this eyeless head that laughs and leers
was a chass daf once or a touareg
with golden rings in his yellow ears
skeleton rattle your mouldy leg
marot was this one or wilde or a wegg
who dropped into verses and down the abyss
and those are the bones of my old love meg
all men s lovers come to this

these bones were a ballet girl s for years
parbleu but she shook a wicked peg
and those ribs there were a noble peer s
skeleton rattle your mouldy leg
and here is a duchess who loved a yegg
with her lipless mouth that once drank bliss
down to the dreg of its ultimate dreg
all men s lovers come to this

prince if you pipe and plead and beg
you may yet be crowned with a grisly kiss
skeleton rattle your mouldy leg
all men s lovers come to this

The following page from this Link (HERE) is gone now, but it's a Second Empire clue:

EPAULETTES LIEUT COL 3ème CHASS D'AF OU LANCIER 2è EMP en vente ... - [ Translate this page ] eBay, c'est vous! Achetez EPAULETTES LIEUT COL 3ème CHASS D'AF OU LANCIER 2è EMP dans la catégorie Collections, Militaria, Accessoires, Pièces détachées, ... cgi.ebay.fr/EPAULETTES-LIEUT-COL-3eme-CHASS-DAF-OU-LANCIER-2e-EM"]EPAULETTES LIEUT COL 3ème CHASS D'AF OU LANCIER 2è EMP en vente ... - [ Translate this page ] eBay, c'est vous! Achetez EPAULETTES LIEUT COL 3ème CHASS D'AF OU LANCIER 2è EMP dans la catégorie Collections, Militaria, Accessoires, Pièces détachées, ... cgi.ebay.fr/EPAULETTES-LIEUT-COL-3eme-CHASS-DAF-OU-LANCIER-2e-EM

Hyperlinks aren't working for me - but it's short for Chasseurs d'Afrique, which you can google.

And my mom said those toy soldiers were a waste of time!

Ah, echoes of Villon - Ballade des Pendus?

Good for you, Frank. That's the sort of thing only Spherians know. Marvellous poem by Marquis. Dig that rhythm, man!

Don Marquis wouldn't waste time on anything but poetry. Marvellous!

And thanks to the guys who provided me with clues about the mysterious chass daf!