Proliferation

A brill fears the chance
That interpreters will hear 
A shrill imitation 
Of the opposite of genuine

Geniuses are shills 
Paid by their reviewers
To falsify the record

Greatest high and slowest low
Conspire to make a pill
It will put the rest to sleep
And window slam to sill

Under guises, surprises
In expectation, revelation
When the up is meant to rise
Autumn shatters lies

To live is to spread
Ye viruses, carry your anachronisms
Across your annotated copies of The Tempest
And forgive bard and their bardos
For transgressions over time

Napoleon cringes at Marcus Aurelius:
Nobility smells indignity 
No matter what the year
As Montaigne smiles behind foe and friendly lines
Wine drunk without fear