Psycholophon -- Gelett Burgess

Since Thomas mentioned translated poetry...

(Poem #334) Psycholophon (Supposed to Be Translated from the Old Parsee) Twine then the rays Round her soft Theban tissues. All will be as She says, When the dead Past reissues. Matters not what nor where, Hark, to the moon's dim cluster! How was her heavy hair Lithe as a feather-duster! Matters not when nor whence; Flittertigibbet! Sound make the song, not sense, Thus I inhibit! -- Gelett Burgess

Notes:

Parsee: The language of Persia under the Sassanian kings

It was to Burgess's great annoyance that his 'Purple Cow' grew to eclipse
all his other work, and in a spirit of fairness I decided to run at least
one other poem of his. However, most of what I've read of his has been
rather weak children's poetry, nowhere near as good or as whimsical as the
purple cow pair.

Today's poem is not quite what I'd call whimsical either, but it's certainly
strange. The semimystical vagueness and the twisted grammar are of course a
parody on translated poetry, but not a particularly well-done one. And the
poem doesn't make enough sense to justify its failure as nonsense. On the
other hand, though, I couldn't really resist a poem that used the word
'flittertigibbet' [1]<g>.

[1] proper spelling 'flibbertigibbet', a flighty or frivolous woman

Links:

The Purple Cow, and a biography of Burgess, can be found at poem #120

m.

p.s. Does anyone know what the title refers to?