That poetical licence is cheating
Is a fact no good bard will deny,
So it’s no use the contrary bleating,
You’ll not prove that however you try.
Though it is to the verse writer’s credit
That he makes his pentameters flow,
Even if he does doubtfully edit
And restructure the bits that won’t go.
Journalistical licence however
Is the euphemist’s way of implying
That the press man is equally clever
When the one thing he’s good at is lying.
6th January 1985
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