Perky Poets Society

What use hath the world for an
old poet anyway? Left behind by time,
struggling to link together
word after word, without chance of rhyme.
What is the worth to anyone,
his wife and sons aside,
of his senseless ramblings now.
And why should those who seek
wisdom from great verse
his roving thoughts abide.
Others greater than he have come before;
Why not read their dusty works
and suffer the old man’s musings no more.
If one could gather up all the old poets
from around the world and drain
from their rickety bodies and feeble brains
their ragged pentameters and dusty meters, then
stir them into a big pot, one could say he knew.
What use hath the world for old poets?
Why, something to grace the world’s best menu:
Old poet stew.