A famous piece of light verse rewritten with a dirge-like, hieratic tone
Osiris, on whose judgement hangs our fate,
A wayward couple’s tale I now relate:
Two different creatures, both on mischief bent,
And vile, unholy union intent,
Sailed off, unclad, their money clasped in hand
With unnutritious food, to some strange land
Where, by a fowl who claimed to be a priest
And low-cost ring, not caring in the least,
They tied the knot which sealed the state wherein
The pair would dwell in diabolic sin.
There, on the strand, slave to the Devil’s tune,
They danced and dined beneath the ghostly moon.
No bird with feline beast should be united,
Such mismatched marriages are surely blighted.
Osiris, god whose vengeance all men dread,
Dispatch them to the dungeon of the dead!
(The Owl and the Pussy Cat, Edward Lear)
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