You mastered the ashen
tongues of Terence and Sophocles;
you swam in the chis and iotas of antiquity;
you knew the all-seeing heart of Homer,
yet in the name of freedom
you would amputate your land
and exult on its stump; you would
sunder the fibers of trade,
revive the borders of war
and now, a clown on wobbly stilts,
shouting bromides about self-rule
in the halls of law, flanked by fellow
knaves who conned the people,
you beg the question:
Boris of the Angles,
will you lay waste
to your kingdom?
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Adam Davis grew up in Maryland, majored in French at Wesleyan University, and received his masters degrees in both political science at Columbia University and supply chain management at Purdue University. He has taught English at several community colleges and spent a year in Shanghai. Currently, he works in the logistics industry.
Photo of Boris Johnson speaking in the House of Commons on 4 September by Jess Taylor, used under the Creative Commons license.
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