The All-Purpose Children’s Poem

The first verse contains a princess

Two witches (one evil, one good)

There’s a castle in it somewhere

And a dark, enchanted wood.

The second has ghosts and vampires

Monsters with foul-smelling breath

It sends shivers down the book spine

And scares everybody to death.

The third verse is one of my favourites

With rabbits in skirts and trousers

Who talk to each other like we do

And live in neat little houses.

The fourth is bang up to date

And in it anything goes

Set in the city, it doesn’t rhyme

(Although, in a way it does).

The fifth verse is set in the future

(And, as you can see, it’s the last)

When the Word was made Computer

And books are a thing of the past.