[John Whitworth]

Mention of Cecil Rhodes on another thread leads me to post this, something I've been thinking of for a couple of weeks. The idea is to write a poem, rhyming and scanning and all that, that begins with a direct quotation from somebody, not neccessarily a POETIC quotation. In fact it's more fun if it isn't. . I'm working on Marlowe's 'Those that love not tobacco and boys are fools', but I haven't got it right. The connection between smoking and gayness isn't self-evident. This is what Rhodes actually said re Englishness:

For He Is an Englishman

The opening lines are by Cecil Rhodes, and not, as many seem to think, by Rudyard Kipling

An Englishman has drawn first prize
In the lottery of life.
Is such a bald assertion wise?
An Englishman has drawn first prize?
You stagger in a wild surmise.
No trouble and no strife?
An Englishman has drawn first prize
In the lottery of life.

An Englishman has drawn first prize
In the lottery of life.
No foreigner will recognize
An Englishman has drawn first prize.
A fairy tale! A pack of lies!
An error all too rife!
An Englishman has drawn first prize
In the lottery of life.

An Englishman has drawn first prize
In the lottery of life.
You open wide those startled eyes.
An Englishman has drawn first prize?
An Englishman? Surprise, surprise!
Have you informed his wife?
An Englishman has drawn first prize
In the lottery of life.