Jake's Flea Market

my father delivered me from
the accusations that pursued me in rome

from the trials that waited 
in my future   and the tortures

my refusals to renounce   
and my execution

mine was the face of a boy then
before beard growth and bare as a lady’s

he starched away and chalked
the dark of my southern complexion
my familiarity to the romans   my royalty

dressed in my sister’s gown
i was delivered to the last night’s
lodging of the king of denmark

at dawn my father watched
from the northern wall   the dane’s carriage
fade from view