100,000,000,000,000 poems

The marble tomb gapes wide with jangling keys
Since Elgin left his nostrils in the stone
The Turks said just take anything you please
While sharks to let's say potted shrimps are prone
They both are right not untamed mutterings
Rejecting ermine to become a knave
Such merchandise a melancholy brings
Thou homestead hillside woodland rock and cave
Staunch pilgrims longest journeys can't depress
One tongue will do to keep the verse agog
From cool Parnassus down to wild Loch Ness
Whiskey will always wake an Irish bog
And let you off from your opinions glum
The best of all things to an end must come


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.