To be is to do - Aristotle
To do is to be - Sartre
Dobe do be do - Frank Sinatra
anonymous graffiti
So should we then obey
what such graffiti say -
follow Frank Sinatra’s way -
reduce words to syllabic play?
Dobedobedobe may
be the sound we most prefer -
it seems to please the popular ear,
irregular verbs reduced to sound
significance in melody
(which has appeal but not to me).
Some say to be’s to have, but we
prefer the complemental be
(which makes a better auxiliary:
je me suis fait mal, mi sono fatto:
perfetto not the past remoto).
The ill I do I have, I am,
creates a perfect epigram,
(though many do not give a damn).
The verb be whispers in my ear
the perfect tense I choose to hear,
it deals with now as well as then
a time preferred by many men,
the reflexive present perfect tense
with self the object makes more sense
(for have is less than be (or do)
it’s some time since I learned that too).
©Terry Hodgson2020
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