Before Relativity

It is not hard to imagine
Albert in a black shabby coat
Appearing to all like a German Chaplin.
He wearing a crumpled old carnation in one lapel
His shoes worn with holes as black as the night.
Fingers in his waistcoat,
Casually thumbing his shaggy moustache
While performing his pantomime of a stalking hunter or
Running against the wind, there would always


And yet, at the end of the day, when costume is put away, and he takes

His meerschaum and takes a long timely puff

The smoke from which lingers at the rafters before drifting outdoors to the

clear elaborate night sky.