Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A TURKISH ELECTION, by ARTHUR GUITERMAN



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A TURKISH ELECTION, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Among the femininity / as well as masculinity
Last Line: "till bosphorus runs dry!"
Subject(s): Muhammad, The Prophet (570-632); Mahomet; Mohammed


A Turkish Election
Among the femininity
As well as masculinity
Of Istambul's vicinity
Was tumult and hurrah;
Abdullah the Uproarious
And one more meritorious,
Mohammed, called "the Glorious,"
Were running for Pasha.

Abdullah's wiles were various;
With drinks at one denarius
He made the mob hilarious;
He purchased votes in shoals.
He roused his rowdy partisans
From donjon keeps and bartizans;
They rounded up the artisans
And drove them to the polls.

Mohammed held such knavery
Deplorably unsavory;
He smiled in simple bravery,
And close to six o'clock,
When every hope seemed blotted out,
By districts neatly plotted out,
The harem vote he trotted out
And potted it en bloc.

Then thousand men with scimiters
And crimson-sashed perimeters,
Tetrameters and trimeters,
Commingled in the cry:
"This man will get the dross for us!
His brain is rich in phosphorus!
Mohammed is the boss for us
Till Bosphorus runs dry!"





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