On Rome’s Metro Linea A,
a stop a thousand breeze by
when the tinny voice announces,
Prossima fermata, Baldus degli Ubaldi—
Do they wonder as I do who the bald guy
at the next stop was?
Uscita lato destra.  

From a famous family of shiny pates perhaps?  

Turns out—go figure—he was a lawyer,
14th century Perry Mason, big-time consigliere,
tops in Roman law and author of a stack
of commentaries and opinions,
who earned the title, Lucerna juris.
Today he’d be on TV ads and freeway billboards
in Albuquerque, offering to win you a settlement
for that chariot accident or a scuffle with the pope.
Pope Urban VI called 1-800-BALDGUY
for help in sorting out a schism and an antipope
(Urban VI v. Clement VII). His crew: the Postglossators.
Whether they sat in taverna after court glossing
back a few beers–
or maybe turning up
in episodes of Lex et Ordo
(two beats)
Codex Justinius.
who knows?

But get this:
in all the Google images,
he’s wearing a cap.