Napoleonic Veterans Reborn

Napoleonic Veterans Reborn    
        
The old man voice of the café tells me        
“We don’t keep boiled eggs but look here they are.        
The proof is they are hot.”        
Mealy mouthed I reply, “I see.”        
He replies, “What do you mean you see?”        
My mountain salad arrives          
But the dressing is absent.        
I repeat, “Italian.”        
The cooks banter, “Damn, Italian sounds mafia,        
like something straight out of Little Italy,        
he probably has some politicians in his pocket.”        
So I avalanche the Matterhorn of vegetables        
the mustached man speaks to me        
He asks, “Are you alright?”        
I answer, “The salad was sumptuous.”        
He replies, “Boiling eggs didn’t take that long.”        
Finally my mirth bursts forth.        
“Those were genuine eggs! Real ones!        
You weren’t kidding before.”        
“Son, you were a swashbuckler before the conscription age.”
“Now I get to recite the libretto  
for ‘Pirates of Penzance’ in front of the class.”
“Our age was more cultured        
What with all these nuclear weapons.”        
“Napoleon would have used nukes        
Had they been around.”        
“Oh no, he was far too civilized.”        
“He was a warmonger.”        
“He had to live down his reputation for being short        
The cartoonists were responsible for egging him on.”      
“Just like the plastic lightsaber you gave me      
made me feel like a kid.”      
“You got to duel in spelling bees.”