Lee Harvey Oswald
Eat your heart out, Homer! Epic poetry about everyone's favorite lone nut.
Warm November days had brought the twice-defected Oswald
Oswald, late of Russia, to the building by the plaza
Climbing resolutely to the sixth floor stacked with textbooks
Death ran its cold hands along the barrel of a rifle
While down on the sidewalks all the beef-fed, tan-cheeked Texans
Set up folding lawn chairs for the spectacle expected
When their chance would come to see the leader of their nation
Waving to the children from the comfort of his auto
But so much depends upon a Mannlicher-Carcano
Fate can pull a trigger; three shots in a short six seconds
Then the golden President could feel his life's blood leave him
Then we knew the mighty too could fall before the thunder
Humble lead and powder could dethrone the proudest monarch
Hist'ry cast its vote, fired from a Dallas sixth-floor window
Blood and bone-shard shrapnel splattered on the Lincoln's dashboard
Brains, mid-thought, were scattered on the Dealy Plaza asphalt
People on the sidelines disbelieved the thing they'd witnessed
Limousines accelerated, hospital its goal now
Cradling her husband, a new widow started weeping
And Lee Harvey Oswald took the stairs down to the lobby
Oswald thrice the traitor took the stairs down to the lobby
Gave the clerk a dime and sat down with his Coca-Cola.