Smart Alec [sonnet]
What did poor old Alec do to coin
the phrase referring to his name as Smart?
And who did those two words so rudely join?
If I were him I’d keep them both apart.
I’m told he was some hapless New York pimp
who, with his wife, the punters he did rob.
Although it seems Smart Alec was a wimp
who failed to bribe the cops while on the job!
So Alec Hoag was never really “smart”
and neither were his namesakes since those days.
Such people never speak out of their heart;
an emptiness their knee-jerk speech betrays.
They stalk the wise like midges round a light;
Smart Alec’s just an envy parasite!
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© Alan Morrison, 2013
The Naked Troubadour 