Corpse Plant

There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying “Stetson!
You who were with me in the ships at Mylae!
That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
Has it begun to sprout? 
Will it bloom this year?
Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?
Oh keep the Dog far hence, that’s friend to men,
Or with his nails he’ll dig it up again!
You! hypocrite lecteur!—mon semblable,—mon frère!”

Hannibal Gisco - not Lector nor Barca - retreated at Agrigentum
Surprised Scipio Asina - not Asinus - at Lipari
Was in turn surprised at Mylae, not My Lai
Returned home to Carthage to be crucified by his own men
(The sources do not tell us if he was surprised)
Is it his corpse that Stetson has planted in the garden?
Ask Hannibal's corpse, is there a corvus to the next world?
Can we cross to a quick quinqueremis making for a heavenly port?
Or are we planted in the muck and mud of our own making?