8 December 2025 – Oh, the limerick!

*Five lines;

* AABBA rhyme scheme;

* a fondness for the galloping anapest meter;

* and (says a man who knows) “a propensity for the perverse.”

I am not thinking of the perverse. I am, however, thinking of a limerick that meets all the 5 lines-AABBA-anapest-meter requirements. I am thinking of the one that begins: “There was a young lady from Spain.”

Only when I look around online do I discover that this Young Lady goes on to have many different limerick adventures.

My particular Young Lady has her adventures on the train. To wit:

“There was a young lady from Spain / Who used to get sick on the train.”

I herewith offer you a timely Vancouver re-write of those first two (AA) lines. After that, it’s the same BBA outcome that the Young Lady knows well.

(Ahem. Throat-clearing.)

“I really do hate to complain,

“But this season we only have rain —

“Not once or twice,

“Which is decent and nice,

“But again and again and again.”