archy goes abroad

london england
since i have been
residing in westminster
abbey i have learned
a secret that i desire
to pass on to the psychic
sharps it is this
until the body of a human
being perishes utterly
the spirit is not
released from its vicinity
so long as there is any
form left in the physical
part of it the ghost cannot go
to heaven or to hell
the ancient greeks
understood this and they
burned the body very often
so that the spirit could
get immediate release
the ancient Egyptians
also knew it
but they reacted differently
to the knowledge
the embalmed the body
so that the form would
persist for thousands
of years and the ghost would have
to stick around for a time
here in westminster abbey
there are hundreds of
ghosts that have not yet
been released
some of them are able to wander
a few miles away
and some of them cannot
go further than a few hundred
yards from the graves
where their bodies lie
for the most part
they make the best of it
they go out on little
excursions around london
and at night they sit on
their tombs and
tell their experiences
to each other
it is perhaps the most
exclusive club in London
henry the eighth came in
about three o clock this morning
after rambling about
picadilly for a couple of hours
and I wish I had the
space to report in detail
the ensuing conversation
between him and charles dickens
now and then
a ghost can so influence
a living person that you
might say he had grabbed off
that living persons body and was
using it as his own
edward the black prince
was telling the gang
the other evening
that he had been leading the life
of a city clerk for three weeks
one of those birds
with a top hat and a sack coat
who come floating though
the mist and drizzle
with manuscript cases
under their arms looking unreal
even when they are not animated
by ghosts edward the black prince
who is known democratically
as neddie black here
says this clerk was a mild and
humble wight when he took
him over but he worked
him up to the place where
he assaulted a policeman
saturday night then left him flatone of the most pathetic
sights however
is to see the ghost of queen
victoria going out every
evening with the ghost
of a scepter in her hand
to find mr lytton strachey
and bean him it seems she beans
him and beans him and he
never knows it
and every night on the stroke
of midnight elizabeth tudor
is married to sir walter raleigh by that
eminent clergyman
dr lawrence sterne
the gang pulls a good many
pageants which are written
by ben johnson but i think
the jinks will not be properly
planned and staged until
j m barrie gets here
this is the jolliest bunch
i have met in london
they have learned
since they passed over
that appearances and suety
puddings are not all they were
cracked up to be anon from your little friend
archy

Comments : I loved this poem for it's whimsical rambling story. The idea of the ghosts of Henry the Eighth and Charles Dickens sitting having a conversation, the 'most exclusive club in London' these just cracked me up. - Zen

Don Marquis first introduced archy the cockroach and mehitabel, a cat in her ninth life, in his newspaper column, ‘The Sun Dial’ in 1916. In a previous life archy was a free verse poet, while mehitabel’s soul once belonged to Cleopatra. She is toujours gai, but archy is more philosophical. It is he who records their songs and observations on the boss’ typewriter late at night. But he is not strong enough to make capital letters so it all comes out lower case.

the main question is
whether the stuff is
literature or not.

it is.
(p.s. I copied the above bit from the back cover of 'archy and mehitabel')