Kubla Khan
KUBLA KHAN
“In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round.”
But Kub forgot to apply for a planning and building permit
And it contravened the zoning ordinance’s remit.
The fire and safety guys said it was too big, and didn’t approve
The use of ice. They said in warm weather it will move.
The environmental lobby was up in arms at the waste of fertile land.
The river authority objected on pollution grounds: it was banned
So the “Dome” had to be scaled back in size
To about one tenth the original design unwise;
And had to be built of safer materials, low rise;
And located on infertile ground with no impact on water supplies.
It was finally erected on a brownfield site of disused steelmills in Pittsburg, a box
Measuring about 50 by 100 feet, and built out of concrete blocks.
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Note
Samuel Coleridge is probably rolling in his grave right now
Copyright © Sidney Beck | Year Posted 2011
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