[Gail White]

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

[Allen Tice]

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

[FOsen]

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!

[Ann Drysdale]

Ah, echoes of Villon - Ballade des Pendus?

[John Whitworth]

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

[Janet Kenny]

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

[Gail White]

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