Hop Toad at the White Palace

The revelers gaze down at him
Prospero's misshapen gnome
His face joyous despite the servitude
The years of groveling at this mad prince's feet
Now playing his fool as the clock strikes twelve

He sets the palace halls aflame
Forcing royalty back to the common land
The Red Plague awaits, with scepter raised
And the prince bleeds from each necrotic pore
While the gnome advises, "Nevermore."

Suggested by Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" and "Hop Toad."
Photo from the 1964 film "The Masque of the Red Death"