Dismembered, to a tod of ivy.
So much for the charioteers, the outriders, the Grand Army!
A red tatter, Napoleon!
The last badge of victory.
The swarm is knocked into a cocked straw hat.
Elba, Elba, bleb on the sea!
The white busts of marshals, admirals, generals
Worming themselves into niches.
How instructive this is!
The dumb, banded bodies
Walking the plank draped with Mother France's upholstery
Into a new mausoleum,
An ivory palace, a crotch pine.
The man with gray hands smiles--
The smile of a man of business, intensely practical.
They are not hands at all
This is obscure, but suggests buildings that are symbolically outdated; impossible to live in. An ‘ivory palace’ is something out of a fairy tale. The crutch or crotch construction is a primitive architectural design, where a split tree is used as the prime means of support for a cottage. This seems to represent the fate of Napoleon and his Grand Army.
The Swarm