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Mea culpa

A poem bemoaning the general decline in the standards of literacy incorporating the words:


elicit, illicit, lessen, lesson, deign, Dane, dissent, descent


Although we did illicit things behind the bike shed once,

In lesson time we listened and we learned.

We honoured swats I swear and deemed it dire to be a dunce,

Cone-hatted in the corner, justly spurned.

The dullard with the Great Dane brain was not to be admired

Nor would we deign to imitate his ways,

Dissent precedes descent. It was to wisdom we aspired,

To learn and earn in turn our teacher’s praise.

Today we lessen learning’s lore and, lowering our sites,

Accept whatever waffle comes our way,

Rhyming rhyme with fine in rap, or spelling rights as rites,

It seems to matter not a jot today.

No more do we elicit what was lauded years ago,

And yet we know, forever to our shame,

We’re the ones what brung ‘em up and done the damage, so

It’s mea culpa, we’re the ones to blame.

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