Si Monumentum Requiris

for Dr Wai-ki Pun, orthopaedic surgeon who gave me two new hips.
 

I was never ‘hip' when ‘hip' was really ‘hip',

Yet since I've often cried: ‘Hip, hip, hooray!',

I wouldn't get a berth on Ovid's ship

And Spenser would insist I keep away,

Shakespeare, being a joker, might well grin,

Declaring every doggerel has its day,

While Keats and Shelley know you just can't win

Where that ice-queen Mutability holds sway…

And yet, dear Doctor Pun, thanks to your skill

I walk at ease, I amble (sometimes run),

So, while my verse may fade with evening's chill,

Permit me, if you will, this final pun:

What mettle's mine at the departure-gate

Heaven's metal-detectors will annunciate!

                                                  Bruce Dawe