10 FEBRUARY 1996, Page 31

The Fox and the Poet

Please tell me please. How chancy is it For a young fox to meet a hungry poet?

A poet! It's time you were properly versed. Of all our enemies the poet is the worst.

Worst! I thought poets were just amorous, devious and gaseous, penurious — but glamorous.

They're shape-changers. They dream and devour. They translate you and take away your power.

Don't tell me please. If he catches me, What will happen if some poet bandersnatches me?

You'll be locked behind words. Cribb'd; confin'd. Howling you'll run to the limits of the mind.

Kevin Crossley-Holland