it is sad to say, almost so sad that i can barely type this, that a novel– a novel that you should not read if you are at all sensitive, a novel that ends a heartbreaking series of 13 novels, a series of unfortunate events–ends with two poems or nearly ends there as there are no true endings in the world as the narrator points out to the point of pain. you will know these poems because the are about heartbreak and because they are spoken at a desperate point in the lives of two characters–their unfortunate ends, although there are also beginnings, but not for them. these two poems are not credited directly, but i can tell you that the authors are called “associates” of those in VFD which if you have had the unpleasant experiencing the novels you will know far too much about but also not enough.

one poem is by the famous poet Francis William Bourdillon. his poem is not sung by bobby vee, a singer that once fired bobby zimmerman a poser according to vee who often claimed to be booy vee himself but later became known as bobby d taking on the name of a poet who met an unfortunate end. the poem is not the script for a 1948 movie starring Edward G. Robinson. it is a sad thing of its own from the late 1800s. it is short as
life would have it. and it is sad but true.

The other poem is sadder and truer still. it pains me to even mention it. in fact the speaker, a bit of continuous and sad evil claiming to be misunderstood, only mutters and sputters the last verse–this series being for children or at least the child-like. there are reasons not to say the first two verses that have to to with the sensitivity of our children toward language. the title of the poem is not mentioned, but you who know poetry know that the poet took his title from Robert Louis Stevenson’s own Requiem. this title and this poem are, young hipster postmodernists, what literary irony is all about–not the silly songs of certain talented but transient waifs who would title their unironic collections, ironic. i could write more but i am overcome with sadness.

let other poets and literati point you more directly to the poems in question or refer to pages 317 and 318 of The End or call your library reference desk.