Ajaccio’s
Prince – two centuries dead!
Yet Corsica is
proud to claim
This upstart,
who great armies led
And to an era
gave his name.
This rebel in
Letizia’s brood
To Brienne soon was sent away;
Under artists’
brush a handsome dude
Who'd hold all
Europe in his sway!
First Consul
then imperial crown;
Admired and
feared in equal measure
While braggadocio
let him down,
His memory many
Frenchmen treasure.
Man-of-the-century
no doubt
Though Russian
campaign met defeat
Say what you
will, the man had clout
Despite harsh
loss of France’s fleet!
Paris saw him
abdicate
Then Elba
cooled his heels a while
But none the
worse, he challenged Fate
And put the
Iron Duke on trial!
His army
crushed at Waterloo;
Did Grouchy’s
troops arrive too late?
Dreams of
America accrue
But ‘Perfide
Albion’* sealed his fate.
Exile on St.
Helena’s rock
A living legend
- but remote
He forged proud
memoirs and took stock;
Historians ponder
what he wrote!
(c) Poet in the woods 2021
* England
Napoleon Bonaparte 15.8.1769 - 5.5.1821
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