Villanelle for Charles Olson

I knew him. I loved him. I sat at his feet.
Now there's a bio that says that he was
A liar, a drunkard, a leech, and a cheat.

But still I remember the way, when we'd meet,
I'd break out a joint and we'd both get a buzz.
I knew him; I loved him; I sat at his feet

While he chanted his measures of variable beat,
In the days when my mustache was nothing but fuzz.
A liar, a drunkard, a leech, and a cheat

Can still be a genius whose work can compete
With Homer's and Dante's--as Maximus does!
I know him. I love him. I would sit at his feet

In the kennels of hell like the dog that I was
But now I'm the professor, and that is because
I knew him and loved him and sat at the feet
Of a liar, a drunkard, a leech, and a cheat.

-- Tom Disch