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The wild horse champs the Parthenon's top frieze
His exaltation shocked both youth and crone
The showman gargles fire and sword with ease
The thumb- and finger-prints of Al Capone
Oh how oh how he hates such pilferings
When flame a form to wrath ancestral gave
He's gone to London how the echo rings
Thou homestead hillside woodland rock and cave
Poetic licence needs no strain or stress
And starve the sniveling baby like a dog
And played their mountain croquet jungle chess
Their sculptors did our best our hulks the clog
Though bretzels take the dols from board-room drum
They're kings we're mammal-cousins hi ho hum


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.