Classic Poem

Once there was a man attached to a nose,
it was a superlative nose,
it was a nose both executioner and scribe,
it was a swordfish with a long beard,

it was a sundial badly positioned,
it was an alembic in a pensive mood,
it was an upside-down elephant,
it was Ovidius Naso, but more nasal.

It was the beak of a war galley,
it was a pyramid of Egypt:
it was the twelve tribes of noses together;

it was an infinity of nosishness,
so much nose, such a savage nose,
that on the face of Annas it would be a crime.