Let us now praise famous men:
Praise is wholesome, by and large—
you know they need it now and then
because they’re famous, because they’re men.

Minister, god or demiurge,
a bloke needs sweetness now and then,
so lead him to the biscuit tin.
Let us praise our famous men.

Up and out the egos surge
mightier far than sword or pen.
Keep them sweet, those famous men.
(That’s what I meant by ‘biscuit tin’.)

From Hallelujah! to Amen!
let our rapturous hymns converge:
Because we’re praising famous men,
because they need it now and then.

————

Mary Cresswell is from Los Angeles and has lived for many many years on New Zealand’s Kapiti coast. As a child, they fed her Edgar Allen Poe, Ogden Nash, and Cole Porter, hence her lingering passion for light verse. Go figure.