Norman's Woe

On the Rocks Off Gloucester

By: Charles Giuliano - Sep 02, 2015

Norman’s Woe

On the tow to
Marblehead Race Week
Passed famous
Norman’s Woe
Behind it
Hammond Castle
With friends
Visited for first time
And Beauport
The Sleeper Fantasy
Posh Eastern Point
Sites never seen
Growing up here
Busy swimming and sailing
No time for landmarks
Interesting mansions of
The bachelor Sleeper
America’s first
Interior decorator
His home a showcase
For fashionable designs
A sickly child
Home schooled
Lived with his mother
Until she died
Across Gloucester Harbor
In rural Magnolia
Hammond an inventor
Married to much surprise
A portrait painter
Lover of the occult
Often stayed in the city
While he entertained
In a Gothic castle
Where Dracula
Cavorted at night
Folly built around
Grand pipe organ
In the great hall
Which Larry played
During parties
When guests bathed nude
Like his life sized
Svelte bronze statue
Next to the pool
Near small dining room
Medieval feasting
During raucous holidays
Hammond and Sleeper
Fast friends
Enjoyed playing with
Organs
Of all kinds
Much it would seem
To the woe
Of briny Norman
Its siren’s song
Luring the
Schooner Hesperus
To watery doom