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At five precisely out went La Marquise
The answer is they could be twins full-grown
Her native chauffeur waited in the breeze
And empty cages show life's bird has flown
The frisian Isles my friends are cherised things
When flame a form to wrath ancestral gave
Proud death quite il-le-gi-ti-mate-ly stings
Etruscan words which Greece and Rome engrave
Staunch pilgrims longest journeys can't depress
And starve the sniveling baby like a dog
While homeward thirsts to each quenched glass say yes
Whiskey will always wake an Irish bog
Though bretzels take the dols from board-room drum
In cognac brandy is Bacardi rum?


Raymond Queneau

Translation to English by Stanley Chapman
found in "Oulipo Compendium"
Atlas 1998, ISBN 0-947757-96-1

Idea and implementation by Magnus Bodin 1997
Produced in the wonderful country of Sweden.