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Saturday 17 June 2017

Ode to Cabbage

There's a dearth of cabbage, that kraut helmet of green
On these pages, be they leaves or my unraveling.
Far be it for me— er,  Be - It - Far - From —
O! fuckit! Farbeitfrom should be gum.

Farbeitfrom me to judge olde histories,
Mine's an umpire's perception's opinion.
What's forgot's now lost to untold mysteries;
Losers annals aren't Clio's dominion.

Behold! hungry mourner, there's gold been buried,
A dirge not so sad, after all.
Arise! hop 'n' clap, sing it slow, then hurried,
Drive the fall of the soul to the wall!


For this elegy's a chant, ifyewill, it's a song
A ballad, a caroled incantation
Of laudatory force to wake forth, to wake long,
So sing it! unto syne reputation!

Fare thee well, hair helmet of cabbage, we knew
Hardly you, or your twilight's bread unleavened.
Your legacy's the chancellorship's prolonged hew',  
Lured and end doer'd and for good eighty-seven'd.

It's of goals got, this bestowment — 
Be it obit, be it passed, be it death be not proud.
See! the eyes in the head cannot hide, betray it loud:
"This must be my proudest moment."


Verdict: the Kissinger Prize, May 2011 - Berlin