Poetry: A Strange Case of Adultery

A STRANGE CASE OF ADULTERY

(A Study in Alliteration)

The English Language I adore.

Of course, by all its lore t’explore

I ought to set much store;

Yet lore is mainly law,

And English is something more.

Because with its womanly charm and its mystery

It looks like a mystical mistress,

Who often mistreats you

And whom you must always mistrust.

But if you miss a tryst or two,

You mustn’t try to misconstrue:

You’ll miss her trick to make it worthwhile, too.

So when in search of high romance I go,

Where to look for me, by now you know.

But when I go about my daily life,

I treasure Russian as a faithful wife.

Alexander Demidov

5 December 1988