Poem aka Ballad

David aka Jezebel
met Tarzan aka Jane,
loved aka lusted and proposed
marriage aka pain.

She weighed things up and answered yes
aka give it a try,
the vicar aka social worker
said here’s the contract – ’bye . . .

Hitler aka Joan of Arc
was staying at their hotel.
insisting on an evening walk
the war had turned out well

then asking is there someone who’ll
make up a fourth at bridge?
Poirot aka Prufrock bowed –
you’re talking my language.

E.T. aka Magdalene
was serving in the bar
waiting for the day she’d be
a famous movie star –

David played a winning hand
till Hitler shot him dead.
Poirot checked the cards, then blamed
the Magdalene instead.

They locked her up for twenty years –
she never smiled again,
her only friend the prison dog
Abel aka Cain.

Tom Vaughan


If you have any thoughts on this poem, Tom Vaughan  would be pleased to hear them.