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Engineers
Someone sent this to me and I had to pass it on...
------- Forwarded Message
Subject: Poetry
Engineers' Corner
Why isn't there an Engineers' Corner in West-
minster Abbey? In Britain we've always made
more fuss of a ballad than a blueprint...How
many schoolchildren dream of becoming great
engineers?
Advertisement placed in The Times by the
Engineering Council
We make more fuss of ballads than of blueprints --
That's why so many poets end up rich,
While engineers scrape by in cheerless garrets.
Who needs a bridge or dam? Who needs a ditch?
Whereas the person who can write a sonnet
Has got it made. It's always been the way,
For everybody knows that we need poems
And everybody reads them every day.
Yes, life is hard if you choose engineering --
You're sure to need another job as well;
You'll have to plan your projects in the evenings
Instead of going out. It must be hell.
While well-heeled poets ride around in Daimlers,
You'll burn the midnight oil to earn a crust,
With no hope of a statue in the Abbey,
With no hope, even, of a modest bust.
No wonder small boys dream of writing couplets
And spurn the bike, the lorry and the train.
There's far too much encouragement for poets --
That's why this country's going down the drain.
Wendy Cope
Make Cocoa for Kingsley Amis