Cento-taph

Jeffrey L. Taylor

May 29, 2022

We will all go together when we go,
Every Hottentot and every Eskimo,
Not with a bang, but a whimper.
This is the way the world ends.

Apollo Lunar Module — Moon
Voyager 1 & 2 — Interstellar space
Curiosity Rover — Mars
Psyche — orbiting Psyche, its namesake

Look!
See!
We made it this far.

Cento (Latin, “patchwork”): poem made of lines from other poems.

• First two lines from “We Will All Go Together” by Tom Lehrer.

• Second two lines from “The Hollow Men” by T.S. Eliot with order reversed.

Cenotaph (Latin, “empty tomb”): monument to people buried elsewhere.

Jeffrey L. Taylor retired in 2001 after 40 years as a Software Engineer. Around 1990, poems started holding his sleep hostage. Unexpected for someone who did poorly in English classes. He has been published in di-vêrsé-city, Texas Poetry Calendar, Tejascovido, and The Langdon Review.