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I have been charged an ode to write
Concerning a prize octopus,
To worship his eight hallowed feet
And sing his name (which I don't know).
So now I try to conjure love
And images of octo fair.
Yet really, though, it isn't fair
That such a thing I have to write:
Sometimes it's difficult to love
This tyrant-king, the octopus;
Fixation isn't right, I know,
But he's beguiled me, head to feet.
I smile at - can you call them feet
Attached to tentacles so fair?
Whatever they are, this I know:
It's quite impossible to write
Too favorably of octopus,
And still frustration springs from love!
I'll not appease you, octo love,
With notions of eight metric feet.
For though I love my octopus,
You'll not control me more - be fair!
My heart is yours, but what I write
Springs up from purest thought, you know.
How long I've labored you cant know,
Just hoping you'll requite my love -
If rhymes could sway you, two Id write,
Paralleling your eight feet!
Perhaps it's I who's not been fair;
I love you so, my octopus.
O octopus, my octopus!
My torments only God can know!
Oh how I need your figure fair -
Can one day you return my love?
That day I'd worship at your feet,
And bitter words I'd no more write.
It isnt fair, sweet octopus,
That I should write just what I know -
You've earned more love than you have feet!
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Memoirs of an octopus - a sestina
My Tale begins as most, I think; I started out quite frail and small,
with dozens of my siblings I was born, it seems another time,
and as a growing octopus, I loved to frolic in the sea.
My mother was so kind and caring, always looking out for me,
my father was a mighty king, with all the ocean in his rule,
and so you see, when I was young, and growing, I was quite content.
But not all of the octopuses in the waters were content
With being limited inside a world they thought was rather small.
My father was a wise old octopus (that's how he got to rule),
and he would reassure the other octos, each and every time -
He'd say: "The Ocean's more than large enough for all of you and me,"
but as the days went on, the octos wanted more than just the sea.
And so began the 'air' of a rebellion that spread through the sea,
they saw that humans ruled the land, and many simply weren't content
to be a secondary species. But it then occurred to me,
that maybe on the surface of the earth, the land was really small
and that the octopi had run the larger portion all this time.
'Twas then that I decided I should find the breadth of human rule.
Yes, drastic measures would be needed now, to save my father's rule,
and I would need to muster up the courage to rise from the sea.
Opponents of our ocean realm were growing with the passing time,
and soon we'd need to walk the land for octopi to be content.
So we decided that I'd lead a group of us, who all were small,
and all would dwell among the humans, each of them a spy like me.
It wasn't long before a great idea had occurred to me,
a way for us to truly find the span o'er which the humans rule.
You see, because the group of octopi I led were all quite small,
we found our way to traveling with pirates who would sail the sea.
I soon discovered that the land could keep an octo quite content,
and that we octopuses could control it in sufficient time.
So we have sought to infiltrate the humans' ranks, and over time,
it's come to pass that I must find a pirate who will carry me.
But not with any pirate can I travel and thus be content,
oh no, but it must be with one who'll show me all that humans' rule.
Therefore, I'll search for one well-traveled, and well-versed - I'll search the sea!
Perhaps a poet pirate could relate - my vision is not small.
And so upon this pirate's arm, I am content to bide my time
Although you think this task is small and trivial for one like me,
My goal, you'll find, is still to rule the ground, the sky... and yes, the sea.
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