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The marble tomb gapes wide with jangling keys
His nasal ecstasy beats best Cologne
He bent right down and well what did he seize
And empty cages show life's bird has flown
To one sweet hour of bliss my memory clings
That metred rhyme alone can souls enslave
Th'outrageous Thames a troubled arrow slings
For burning bushes never fish forgave
The peasants's skirts on rainy days she'd tress
A piercint wit would sprightliest horses flog
While homeward thirsts to each quenched glass say yes
We'll suffocate before the epilogue
With marble souvenirs then fill a slum
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.