In Memoriam

So, in honor of Edgar Allen Poe's funeral being held today, I thought I'd share this.

Once upon a noonday bright,
While I surfed upon a site,
I found a link to the past,
A lifeline to a man long gone,

His funeral to be held in Baltimore,
Though no incident upon its shore
Occurred now or before,

Fanatics and devotees
Planned to bow to their knees
In memoriam of slandered fame,

Telltale hearts would beat in one,
Black cats would meow their elegies,
And fingernails would scratch their solemn refrain
From behind the piazza's brick-laid walls.

Homes would rend asunder,
Ghosts haunt the moors covered
By new-laid mansions who knew nothing
Of the genius who once prowled their streets.

Once upon a Sunday bleak
Poe's memory buried 'neath the ground,
No pendulum can slice nor pit can hide
The telltale beating of mourners' hearts.