BEASTLY TALES

WILL-O’-THE-WISP

Austen Pimpernel said, “It gives me the willies,
They dash hither and thither, just like young fillys.
You seek them here, you seek them there,
You’ll not find them anywhere.
Neither if you indeed do harry and hector,
Locate that elusive, ghostly spectre.
A phantom, an apparition, a visual illusion.
And should they reappear, no apology for intrusion.”

Austen Pimpernel was referring to his own version
Of a Will-O’-The-Wisp, an elusive person.
When asked, reasonably, whither do you go?
The response; hither and thither, don’t you know?
Have you the wherewithal to make such a trip?
“Mind your own business, button your lip!”
Well, I ask you, in the sense of fair play?
Is that a nice comeback, a mannered display?

He promenaded along the boulevard, observing the flow of water.
That river swirled, with small waves curled, between bricks and mortar,
Ahead, in the mist, a shadowy figure had hissed, “Now, come on, advance!”
Then, it was off in a flash, a “derring-do” dash, pirouetting in a trance.
In that cold wintery air, so very crisp
Had that apparition been, the elusive Will-O’-The-Wisp?
Now, who exactly was this person so elusive?
Could it be an entity quite exclusive?
Say, Reginald Erasmus, that well known critic,
Of just about everything, subject politic.
He’d been seen often, lurking around,
Usually where twi-light did abound.
When hailed, from afar, by friend or foe,
Into that twi-light he’d up sticks and go
He’d melt away, no apology or contrition,
That surreptitious apparition.
The C.I.A and the F.B.I
Hearing his behaviour, declared him a spy!
And so he found his way to their WANTED list,
Which seemed somewhat arbitrary, given the gist.
So, said Reginald, “Now they have me in their sights,”
“I cannot sleep, day or nights.”
“This is far too hard to put to rights.”
“When one is cornered, one is put to flights!”
“I simply must vanish abroad,”
“Something I have previously abhorred.”
So, Reginald Erasmus, melted into the night.
That twi-light zone, where he felt just right!
And so he melted into the “ether” that’s ethereal space,
As we know, at disappearing he was an ace!
He maintained his Will-O’-The-Wisp reputation,
Avoiding adroitly the F.B.I delegation.