Recently Written 01/18/08 - (2)
To Was or Not to Did He do and he did and he does, And if he didn't and if he don't, and he won't, He will and he wouldn't and he wasn't and he was.
But if he weren't and he hasn't and he had not, When he shouldn't and he couldn't and he wouldn't, Then he shan't and he dassn't and he musn't and he ain't.
But knowing better than worst and best, Worse than isn't and weren't and was, He did what he may and mayn't, to do what he must,
And didn't does he shouldn't have could or was, Which canceled his can'ts, undid his dids, And rendered his dos clueless, his clues doless,
So that, in the end of his ises and ares and will bes, He was free to exercise his verbs to be and not be, Give free run to was and were and will and shan't —
A jubilee or toless infinitives, singularly double negatives, Actively passive and passively acting periphrastics, As in "Is what he isn't, ain't what he wasn't,"
"Were what he ain't, will be what he shouldn't," "Did what he didn't, couldn't what he wouldn't," "Might have been what he wasn't, what he was." And when the final rising curtain fell on the hadn'ts And might have beens and mayn'ts and mays, The wills and wasn'ts, the weres and wouldn'ts and won'ts,
The dust having adequately failed to settle unsatisfactorily On the isn'ts and hadn'ts and wasn'ts and weren'ts, None of us knew who'd done it, who would have did it,
Who could have possibly wouldn't have, would haven't, Murdered the English language, Just for the sake of asking, "Is you ain't my never will?"
"Won't you will not be my wasn't when, forever less?" "Ain't you weren't my was's wasn't?" "Be you not my to-be-not, not be my be-not not-to-be?"
01/18/08 - (2)
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