Villanelle of Mutton
Villanelle of Mutton
Original Text
Complete Poems of Tom MacInnes
(Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1923): 217.
1Very sick and tired am I
2 Of stewed prunes, and apples dried,
3And this our mutton that once was lamb!
4I will make no grand salaam
5 For the stale cakes the gods provide!
6Very sick and tired I am!
7My indignant diaphragm
8 Would cover something fresh, untried,--
9Not this mutton that once was lamb!
10How every verse and epigram
11 Of hope the lagging years deride!
12Very sick and tired I am!
13Must I always then be calm,
14 And talk as one quite satisfied
15With this our mutton that once was lamb?
17 For taste of things too long denied!
18Very sick and tired I am
19Of this our mutton that once was lamb!
Notes
16] "Dam--A coin I am told of small value, used somewhere in the Orient, perhaps India, and there giving rise to a familiar phrase, as did the coin known as a 'rap' in Ireland. This in explanation, lest the writer be thought profane." (poet's note) Back to Line
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire / Sharine Leung
RPO Edition
2011
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