The Versifier's Curse
Constrained by rhymes,
the writer of verse my well err
from the straight path like a hiker
to whose clothes things cling as would a burr,
like a tramp at whose heels
there slinks a dog that stinks.
From this well-thumbed rhyming dictionary,
you may infer
that inspiration needs the occasional prod.
How odd! Even to those who claim her as a friend
the Muse of poetry and verse sometimes has lips
as open as a miser`s purse.
O, say, in Heaven’s name, what gain
has even lain in the fact that the verb "to blur"
rhymes with a noun like "myrrh"?
Just for the merriment
try this experiment.
Say to the first person you meet on a bus.
"'Scuse me, Sir!" (or maybe "Lady"),
"Say, I pray, why fat cats so often purr."
Try this out, and you'll aver
that while sense and rhyme sometimes concur,
it is not invariably the case,
and would the world not be a duller place,
if - perish the thought - it were?
Copyright © Julian Scutts | Year Posted 2018
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