Skipping Song

A word in time 
saves nine
Skip a word
and save a rhyme
Save a word
and skip a rhyme
A word in time saves nine

A word in time
saves nine
Skip a line
and miss a rhyme
Miss a line
and skip a rhyme
A word in time
saves nine

The last line’s coming
the last line’s coming
the last line’s coming

Ready or not.

From Dinner with the Spratts and Other Poems. Published by Methuen, 1991.