Wearing the champion beau crown
William's port the dude's tug was bound
Sapphire ring
Shined with bling
Lucky, very happy
Not sappy
Snow coming down hard
Staring from the bar
"Time, I carry out this mission,
It is her decision,
Destiny on my side
She will decide
Doing the right thing
Since I am her King"
There she was
Showing Princess buzz
Until the liberty bell sent a response
"Anything else are their wants?
Voice shouted, filled with demand
Making the command
"Formal nice white dress
Bridesmaids will be impressed
Romance
Special dance
Day reserved for me
Is what I decree"
Months later
Brotherly love paid her
Weather turned warm
And a family was born
Creating a Queen for the day
Hearing people say
"Good luck," sending off the pair
Confirming a permanent affair
Loving emotions that cannot be compared
Since once the key stone is unlocked
Married couples are off the marketing block
Written: August 28, 2026, for a contest sponsored by Brian Strand
Note: Creating a clerihew suite (a connected series) allows to convey a hilarious biographical narrative or analyze a historical event from several perspectives. Because clerihews are so brief, connecting three or four of them creates a lighthearted narrative arc.
********************
The teenage William Shakespeare
found himself steered by sudden fear
When 'Anne Hathaway' said 'We are to be wed'
he packed up his quills & to London he fled
When writing tragedies at 'The Globe'
he wore a truly fancy velvet robe
However it caught fire during 'Henry VIII'
burning the theater right down to the gate
The aging wordsmith William Shakespeare
felt the English language was so austere
So he invented the words eyeball and swagger
just to find a rhyme for a bloody dagger
When it came time to bury William Shakespeare
his lawyer shed a real dubious tear
For he left his wife no money or bread
only his clearly favorite second-best bed
John William Waterhouse
couldn’t paint any female in a blouse.
Pre-Raphaelite, he painted his muses in the nude
or in gowns with tragedy or mythical allure imbued.
England’s craftsman & revivalist William Morris
as a poet - perhaps he used a thesaurus
Honest home styling he gave his heart
while elevating hand-block wallpaper to art
On the occasion of Shakespeare's passing
At this remove, two score and one hence
What have I to show for recompense
For the gifts with the world you gladly shared
The likes of which none have compared
So I'll tip my hat to the one on the throne
Whose works surpassed all since we've known
And I'll gather what flowers are strewn my way
And stand up straight on these feet of clay
Knowing what thought might cross my mind
Will still leave me so far behind
To strive and stumble and wrestle my way
In pursuit of what little I have to say
On the occasion of Shakespeare's birth
Three words from the Bard illuminate more brightly than the sun
And standing in his shadow one is most likely there to fade
As a flickering candle placed beside the light of that bright one
And measuring one's own image thus will leave most all unmade
One wonders whence the ink was drawn that this Alchemist turned to gold
The moment that his sharpened quill touched down upon the page
As genius in sequential thought upon the parchment there unscrolled
Which lapped upon the shore of love where seas of passion rage
And yet the spark still licks the wick encompassed now in tallow
Not giving thought to where it might land one in history
Unlit 'twould render darkness cursed and all to wade there shallow
Should all stand cowed and trembling bowed without posterity
Surely mortals mere as me serve but to burnish what surrounds
The gilded steps up to the treasure, measuring there what still astounds
The 'Bard of Avon'- William Shakespeare
Never held in his hand a spear,
But with a sharp and powerful quill,
Killed kings and princesses, summoning their ghosts at will.
William Shakespeare,
whose lines made groundlings quake with cheer,
sent the Globe into raucous delight—
turning every tossed apple core into opening night.
A child of ten years
Near Albion's River Peck
Gazed up from the earth
And witnessed a hazel tree
Adorned with sparkling angels
(William Blake's mystical childhood vision while in Peckham Rye)
A British MP. campaigned for two decades, and successfully abolished the Atlantic slave trade.
For his philanthropy, a village in Sierra Leone, and a private university in Ohio, both bear his name.
While striving to make all slaves free, he retired, then died, three days after the act was passed.
11 / 18 / 2025.
Was there really a William Tell?
Well...
maybe yes, and maybe no,
but I just want you to know,
because,
if there was,
I'd take away his bow.
Because of the holiday the Lourve was closed.
Mary was impressed with the French pastry
that tasted just as good as it looked.
Horrible coffee, good chocolate & delicious thick soups.
Beautiful clothes with prohibitive prices.
We boarded the Albert Express for Switzerland
with a bottle of wine and a big bag of pastries.
Take me back to Paris, I can’t stand the fresh air and healthy people of Switzerland
Arrived in Lucerne with time to enjoy the fountains in all the squares —
they were boarded up a couple days later.
Delicious cheese fondue, murals painted on the old houses,
a quaint town for William Tell, with his bow and barefooted boy.
A Train from The Alps to Venice.
Train to Florence, Hotel Majestic,
whole city is an art Gallery.
Michelangelo square, mosaic jewelry, leather goods.
Flores Hotel in Rome, Vatican, Parthenon.
St. Paul without the walls, St. Peters in chains,
Nightclub tour of the city, Old Appian way,
Capuchin Church with all the bones...
Beyond this race of aches and pain
Looms large the struggle to make the grade,
And yet the mental and physical strain
Finds me now and forever unafraid
It matters not the starting gate,
The grueling race will take its toll,
But I’m a marathoner great
I’ll master all to reach my goal
William Shakespeare
is pretty good I hear.
I have but one critique -
I wish, in English, he would speak.
yummy banana, tasty banana.
eat 10,000 at once, die.
yummy banan, testy banarn.
heving srokke.
heel pme.
10,000 bannn kil u frm pot as yum.
skadoosh!
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