Dodgy Ozy: A Man For All Seasoning
(Ozymandias of Egypt, Percy Bysshe Shelley)
I met a traveller from an antique land
A dodgy geezer from my wild youth
Who used the pseudonym of Ozy.
I hesitated for a while: Was he
The real deal? ‘Ozy man,’ at last
I said, ‘di’us a favour, forget the past,
And for old times tell me the truth,
Or at least as much as I can stand.
The question is, should I believe
All the crap that I have read
On snapchat and my twitter feed
About the fact that I am dead
To all of those who mean the most –
The flimflams and the muffin men –
The ones who write with poisoned pen
Those killing evil hateful posts.
Of course,’ I said, ‘I trust their views
There’s no such thing as fake news.’
‘Oh is that so?’ the traveller said,
‘You think you can weave a web
That will deceive your online foes?
And how will you achieve that goal
Of protecting your immortal soul
Without the need to come to blows?’
‘Who needs Facebook, text or tweets
If I’m going to, them, defeat?
I’ll do it, old school, go one better
I’ll dump the phone and write a letter.’
I am trying to understand why the original had to be memorized by my 7th grade class. It doesn’t exactly encourage one to succeed at life! Nice rendition of your own as always.
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I think that whole learn by rote thing was a painful egregious plot by adults but after it was cool to be able to recite poems so what does that say? Abuse can be good? Not sure that works
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The ones you often parody are among the ones I had to memorize. I think that is why I enjoy your renditions so much.
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OMG that is the cutest picture of the dog, ever!! Your poem is better than the original.
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You are far too generous… though Dog is secretly v pleased
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Well done! I love “the flimflams and the muffin men”! And the photo of Dog is definitely totes adorbs! 😉
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He likes to pose, and so glad you liked it
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