Nicolai Abildgaard, Danish
“You’re Right, These Aren’t the Terms of Surrender. It’s My Screenplay. If You Have Any Suggestions For Trims, I’m Trying To Cut 15 Pages,” 1785
Oil on canvas
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/// The surrender terms, written by hand,
came from Magnus at Frederick’s demand.
But they’re writ in a form
that is far from the norm:
By long custom, all limericks are banned.
/// If the Fortress of Tønning is lost
to the Danes, ‘twill be too high a cost.
Magnus, (one cunning Swede),
hands King Frederick to read
Jokes that Kill. (Danes have been double-crossed.)
/// It seems Magnus’s opus is sly;
when a poem hits somebody’s eye
he sees limericks, though terse,
contain puns which grow verse,
and the plan is that, laughing, he’ll die!
/// But, despite deadly jokes Magnus brought,
his “Hail Mary” plan will come to naught.
Verses, silly and punny,
are to many not funny.
Denmark wins, for the Swedes were outfought.