Poem 2: The Diplomatic Platypus

Week 2, and my chosen poem is a comic verse, by far my favourite type of poem. This one has a somewhat political bent, and was first published in the satirical magazine "Punch", which seemed at least vaguely appropriate given the freedom of expression debates raging this week. I hope you enjoy this week's choice, written by Patrick Barrington.

The Diplomatic Platypus

I had a duck-billed platypus when I was up at Trinity

With whom I soon discovered a remarkable affinity

He used to live in lodgings with myself and Arthur Purvis,

And we all went up together for the Diplomatic Service.

I had a certain confidence, I own, in his ability,

He mastered all the subjects with remarkable facility;

And Purvis, though more dubious, agreed that he was clever,

But no one else imagined he had any chance whatever.

I failed to pass the interview, the board with wry grimaces

Took exception to my boots and then objected to my braces,

And Purvis too was failed by an intolerant examiner

Who said he had his doubts as to his sock-suspender's stamina.

Our summary rejection, though we took it with urbanity,

Was naturally wounding in some measure to our vanity;

The bitterness of failure was considerably mollified

However, by the ease with which our platypus has qualified.

The wisdom of the choice, it soon appeared, was undeniable;

There never was a diplomat so thoroughly reliable.

He never made rash statements his enemies might hold him to

He never stated anything for no one ever told him to,

And soon he was appointed, so correct was his behaviour,

Our Minister (without Portfolio) to Trans-Moravia.

Our friend was loved and honoured from the Andes to Esthonia,

He soon achieved a pact between Peru and Patagonia,

He never vexed the Russians or offended the Rumanians,

He pacified the Letts and yet appeased the Lithuanians,

Won approval from his masters down in Downing Street so wholly, O

He was soon to be rewarded with the grant of a Portfolio.

When on the anniversary of Greek Emancipation,

Alas! He laid an egg in the Bulgarian Legation.

This untoward occurrence caused unheard-of repercussions,

Giving rise to epidemics of sword-clanking in the Prussians.

The Poles began to threaten and the Finns began to flap at him,

Directing all the blame for this unfortunate mishap at him;

While the Swedes withdrew entirely from the Anglo-Saxon dailies

The right of photographing the Aurora Borealis,

And, all efforts at rapprochement in the meantime falling barren,

The Japanese, in self-defence, annexed the Isle of Arran.

My platypus, once thought to be more cautious and more tentative

Than any other living diplomatic representative,

Was now a sort of warning to all diplomatic students

Of the risks attached to negligence, the perils of imprudence,

Beset and persecuted by the forces of reaction, O,

He reaped the consequences of his ill-considered action, O,

And, branded in the Honours list as "Platypus, Dame Vera",

Retired, a lonely figure, to lay eggs in Bordighera.