You’ll just have to make do with words.
Although you’re far too small for us and them,
I wish you elephants in herds.
Despite the learning time affords,
when you don’t know what or how to say then
you’ll just have to make do with words.
Awful news for little ladies and for lords,
to break it to you here will be my shame.
I wish you elephants in herds:
as they link nose-to-tail, walk forwards,
so your sentence learns how to become.
You’ll just have to make do with words,
but here’s a trick. Ask for seconds, thirds.
Your name is a flower. What’s the stem?
I wish you elephants in herds,
and long skies dark with songbirds.
God knows there won’t be enough of them,
but you’ll just have to make do with words.
Good luck. I wish you elephants in herds.
[Further reading: Joseph Wright of Derby and the mysteries of the Enlightenment]
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This article appears in the 20 Nov 2025 issue of the New Statesman, Meet the bond vigilantes
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