To Have and to Be

To be is to do - Aristotle

To do is to be - Sartre

Dobe do be do - Frank Sinatra

anonymous graffiti

So should we then obey

what such graffiti say -

follow Frank Sinatra’s way -

reduce words to syllabic play?

Dobedobedobe may

be the sound we most prefer -

it seems to please the popular ear,

irregular verbs reduced to sound

significance in melody

(which has appeal but not to me).

Some say to be’s to have, but we

prefer the complemental be

(which makes a better auxiliary:

je me suis fait mal, mi sono fatto:

perfetto not the past remoto).

The ill I do I have, I am,

creates a perfect epigram,

(though many do not give a damn).

The verb be whispers in my ear

the perfect tense I choose to hear,

it deals with now as well as then

a time preferred by many men,

the reflexive present perfect tense

with self the object makes more sense

(for have is less than be (or do)

it’s some time since I learned that too).

©Terry Hodgson2020