Partially blinded, according to the grudging rules,
and mounted on a donkey so as to be
paraded the length and breadth of the town,
to the amusement of some, the edification
of others, the Pretender lamented inwardly
his fate, the apparent gamble of his
too-easy friendships, the heedlessness and flattery
by which much time was swallowed up,
the all-in-all, the by-and-by,
the crashing of the surf against the shore
and every other castaway moment
he could now no longer call his own.