24 JANUARY 1969, Page 27

No. 537: Octet

COMPETITION

Competitors are invited to compose an eight- line poem or stanza of a poem on any one of the subjects given below, using four of the fol- lowing five pairs of words as end-rhymes. The rhymes are taken from a well-known poem. The rhyme scheme is optional.

The words: making. breaking; flower, hour;

bead, seed; corn, mourn; daughter, water.

The subjects: A yippie's anti-inaugural address; lament (or eulogy) for the `QE 2'; a pot-smoker's palinode.

In addition to the usual prizes, a special prize of one guinea will be awarded to the first entry opened that correctly identifies the poem from which the rhymes were taken. Entries, marked 'Competition No. 537,' by 3 February.