I come up with one of these every so often, usually inspired by whatever craziness in going on in the IRC channel. It’s about time I started posting them here.
First, of course, Failbetter’s original:
[quote]Do you recall how they came to that place?
And you sang of your lightnings and shapeful disgrace.
They tilted their vanes and ennobled their spires.
You welcomed them then, and commingled all choirs.[/quote]All of the subsequent poems are of my own devising.
[quote]Do you recall how they came to that place?
And you sang of your hungers and mortal disgrace.
A pact signed in violant; down Candles fell.
First to your knives, then into the well.[/quote]The bargain between the Masters and the God-Eaters. I’m especially proud of this one, and I dare say it could fit into SMEN somewhere.
[quote]Do you recall what they brewed in that place?
You sang of your teacups and sconeful disgrace.
They tilted the jam and ennobled the butter.
You welcomed your aunt, that crazy old nutter.[/quote]Tea and scones with your aunt.
[quote]Do you recall how they came to that place?
And you sang of your hotbot and emoteful disgrace.
They tip-tapped their keys and ennobled the server.
You welcomed them then, and chatted with fervor.[/quote]The Fallen London IRC channel. "Hotbot" is the server bot which carries out various commands, including emotes.
[quote]Do you recall how they came to that place?
And you sang of your pheromones and swarmful disgrace.
They raised their antennae and clicked their mandibles.
You welcomed them then, and commingled all anthills.[/quote]Ants! "Mandibles"/"anthills" is quite a tortured rhyme, but it’s the best that came to mind.
[quote]Do you recall how they sailed to that place?
And you sang of your cannons and peg-legged disgrace.
They shivered their timbers and raised the black flag.
You welcomed them aboard, those fierce scallywags.[/quote]Pirates!
Do you recall how we came to this city?
Spore-strewn, only gaslight, the rat propinquity.
We promised each other the Surface by spring,
Yet here it is autumn, and London we sing.
[quote]Do you recall how they came to that place? And we sang of our craft-works and scuttering disgrace. They treat us like pests and they say we have fleas. So we’ll fight them, we will, for their mountains of cheese![/quote]The rattus faber, of course!
Do you recall how we came to that place?
How they dreamed of our love and sunlit embrace?
They pillaged our minds in a garden of briar
But now they have made a creature most dire.
At first, I misread your comment as this and almost ended up laughing:
[quote=Anchovies]The bargain between the Masters and the God-Eaters. I’m especially proud of this one, and I dare say it could fit into SMEN somewhere.
[quote]Do you recall what they brewed in that place?
You sang of your teacups and sconeful disgrace.
They tilted the jam and ennobled the butter.
You welcomed your aunt, that crazy old nutter.[/quote][/quote]
Anyway,
I don’t recall how I came to this place,
With men made of clay or with squids for a face.
Where rats and cats talk for no reason,
And equally senslessly I got imprisoned.
Same, Eric. I started wondering whether the Honey Well had returned.
Do you recall how they came by that face?
And they sang of their roles and the moth’s proper place
They gilded their masks and mastered their parts
They’ll welcome you now, and close off their hearts
Almost always "disgrace", eh? Aren’t there any other words that rhyme with "place"?
Still, you forgot another one of Failbetter’s:
Do you recall how we came to that place?
And we suffered their hammers and fearful embrace?
We hardened our hands and believed all their liars.
We began with the river when we set the fire.
Albeit, that one’s a little more obscurely placed…
Do you recall how we came to this place?
So tragically lacking in haddock and plaice.
Neither potatoes nor hot mushy peas,
But Rubbery Lumps and green fungal cheese.
Do you recall how we came to that Parlour?
Awash with red stockings and dizzying ardour?
With a wink and a coin they stoked all our fires.
They knotted our hands and ennobled our spires.
Do you recall a sinister place?
Of white corridors and numbered doors?
You tiptoed and peeked but dared not speak
Soon you will have to ascend a floor!
Do you recall what we drank in that place?
That the waitress did spill with such grace?
You sipped it and fell and cried for your mother.
I rather think I should quite like another.
[color=#ffffff]Will you recall how we came to that place?
How we tore down the church, and the queen, that disgrace?
We gilded their eyes and emboldened the choirs
We welcome her now, our lady of pyres [/color] edited by mooloor on 11/17/2017
Do you recall how we came to this place
You sang of a journey I’ve wholly effaced
I’ve been something else, someone else, something more
Yet I cannot recall who we were before
Do you recall what we left in that place?
We still have our faces, our minds and our race
But when we followed our city down on its fall
Are we really still human at all?
Do you recall how we came to that Wharf?
Our faces defaced by that d___ polymorph?!
I’d like my mien back from that wax-eating brute.
Aim to kill please. Mind my mug when you shoot.
Here’s my contribution. Abysmal, but I had to give it a go:
Do you recall how we came to this place?
And sang of that brew which mushrooms can’t replace.
They tilted their pots and engulfed both our cups,
With the Number 4 Special, on which Satan sups.
Do you recall how we came to that place?
Fighting-grade leather instead of my lace
At first I was distant, but oh how that’s changed
Love is like Seeking, sans logic, deranged edited by Iona Dre’emt on 12/8/2017
Do you recall that dubious dapper bloke?
Stood so stoic with an animal to tote
Caught in a crazy scheme, he persevered
Though arduous and fruitless, he still held him dear.
Do you recall how we came to this place?
A sky full of bats that left nary a trace
The ground opened up and swallowed us whole
Our nights are now dark with days black as coal edited by Polite Society on 12/10/2017