The Death of Falstaff

For David Layden

O, you beautiful wreckage!

Half-beard, half buffalo
Two-fisted ale-swiller, tattooed singer of songs
Bawdy-man of many words
So outrageous but never vile

You were as loved as you loved life
and scorned by no man or woman
that valued your friendship:
a golden coin in a burlap sack

All that made you now gone;
and sorely missed.