poem, and emendation

[incandescens]

Let me see if I can remember how this goes . . .

If it be true that I do think,
There are five reasons man should drink.
Good friends -- good wine -- or being dry --
Or if he should be by and by --
Or any other reason why.

Now, Cogman's Emendation, with thanks to Dorothy Parker.

If it be true (though it be trite)
There are five reasons I should write.
Good plot -- good scene -- dramatic irony --
Relationships that catch the eye --
Or any other reason why.

And yet to this, I'll add a word
Which gives the prior verse the bird.
Two characters can so bemuse
As to inspire conflicting views,
And even if the piece be lewd,
Debauched, appalling, and eschewed,
Requiring edits far and wide
To the poor canon's suffering hide,
That X and Y should meet and frolic
In manner dubious (though symbolic!)
I'll flush and blush, and, pseudonymic,
With stuttering keyboard dump them in it.
Though later I'll be most contrite . . .
I still, I fear, am urged to write.

---

Comments

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

I am amused. I am highly amused. Especially by that last stanza. Though...how do you pronounce 'irony'? Does it actually rhyme with 'eye'?

[incandescens]

I'm afraid not. It's "eye-rohn-ee". But I couldn't manage anything better. :P

[(Anonymous)]

Claim that you're using an archaic form of "eye," that's pronounced "ee," and you're golden.

Love the poem. O:>

--Beth

[solaas.livejournal.com]

Seconded! That's what archaic forms are for. And it doesn't matter whether they exist or not. :)