Don Juan In Hell/Baudelaire Poem by robert dickerson

</></>Don Juan, sauntering down to hell
Boarded the boat, paid Charon his fee,
and, launched upon the Stygian swell,
Studied the proud boatman, dark and sinewy;

Venting their veils and offering the breast
Like petals lifted to the sun
In a darkness like dawn, women
Yelled from the bank or fanned themselves at rest.

Laughing, Sganarelle demanded his pay.
Shaking his finger, Don Luis
Pointed him out to the curious fray
As the rogue who mocked him to his face.

Trembling in tulle, a widow before wife,
Donna Elvira, pardoned his jilted troth,
Smiled the way she had in life
Once, upon hearing his perjured oath.

A man in full armor, hewn from stone
Signaled from shore as though he would board:
But the hero merely leaned on his sword
And, studying the wake, continued on.