Pope Hadrian VII

POPE HADRIAN VII

“the usual loungers 

and pleasure seekers”

—Frederick Rolfe, 

Baron Corvo, Pope Hadrian VII

I was hardly disappointed, my dears—

After Pope Benedict XVI abdicated

And the Vatican didn’t choose me—

To be St. Peter’s new Vivacious Vicar 

But it’s not I who had lost the Vatican—

It’s the Vatican who had lost me, my dear

So when the Cardinals slank up to me—

I civilly shooed them from my gondola 

I raised my drawbridge and told them—

I was beyond parleys from the heights

Never anymore would I seek them out—

Those stuttering little Chrysostom priests

With their Mad Hatter insane tiaras—

Right out of ALICE IN WONDERLAND

I had my own Temple of the Holy Ghost—

My muscular young Venice gondolier

I’d rescued Zildo from an earthquake—

After that we sailed the Adriatic Sea