7 SEPTEMBER 1985, Page 37

No. 1388: A couple of birds

You are invited to write a light-hearted 12-line poem with the following rhyme- scheme: shine, right, sight, mine, appalled, same, name, called, confounded, together, neither, compounded. An extra £10 will go to the first competitor (drawn by lot) who identifies the original poem from which this rhyme sequence comes: my title, otherwise irrelevant, is a clue. Entries to `Competition No. 1388' by 20 September.