Some knave or other thought it fit to establish,
when the new world was still being peopled,
a sort of punctuation which might indicate
how good some things were, how bad everything else was.
No one could tell at what price to fix it.
I, bearing in hand the extant original,
knowing not why I should shame the period piece
and praise whatever lasts from year to year,
do continue to emend by posting commas,
annotating as to current market value,
questioning and exclaiming as ‘tis fit.
Let’s hear a song that will ensure a safe passage.
Down in the galleys they’ll decide for right or wrong.
And let’s conclude each verse with a fitting
cadence, a chorus to be passed from churl to churl.
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