Prince of Pigs
………………..
Who needs an enemy when kinfolk will
Suffice? Close kin are guaranteed the best
Assassins of your character. They spill
The pigsty beans. That’s one great litmus test
Of families. Princess Alexandra told
A story of the pigs at Panker, how
Young Philip let them out and then, behold,
The swine (the pigs, not him) went wild (kerpow!)
Among the tea things on the adults’ lawn.
In fact the situation was much worse
Than that. She said he herded them up on
The grass deliberately, a prankish curse.
The prince denies remembering this scene
But gossip is the best when it’s unclean.
This poem is part of a shorter sonnet sequence within this large sonnet sequence called The Encyclopedia Sonnetica. The shorter sonnet sequence is called “Philip, Prince of Greece and Great Britain.” I recommend you read this poem where it is set in its sonnet sequence. To do that, search for “Philip, Prince of Greece and Great Britain” here in The Encyclopedia Sonnetica.