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From playboy Chance the nymph no longer flees
For tea cucumber sandwiches a scone
Upon his old oak chest he cuts his cheese
That suede ferments is not at all well known
And yet 'twas he the beggar Fate just flings
That metred rhyme alone can souls enslave
Th'outrageous Thames a troubled arrow slings
Victorious worms grind all into the grave
It's no good rich men crying Heaven Bless
A bird-brain banquet melts bold Mistress Mog
Socrates watched his hemlock effervesce
With breaking voice across the Alps they slog
With marble souvenirs then fill a slum
And lessors' dates have all too short a sum


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.