Higgins Syndrome
Oh what a delight was My Fair Lady last night
What nostalgia to behold Eliza, Higgins & Pickering
On phonetics and enunciation bickering
About “Eich” and the rain in Spain that stays mainly in the plain
And when Eliza at Ascot, groomed to be like a Hi magazine mascot
Abandoned that farce, and screamed “move your bloomin arse”
Ah! It warmed the cockles of my soul
As I hooted from the audience engulfed in laughter whole
But nothing could compare to my revelation of the century
The Higgins Syndrome, ah what a blazing discovery
The men of my ilk in society and in age
Suffer from this disease and against all they do rage
Sworn bachelors of old who claim solitude to be gold
Till along comes an Eliza to test their grit
Instead of acceptance they choose denial with wit
Ole Higgins learned his lesson, got slippered in ‘56
Couldn’t deny he had fallen just like a ton of bricks
What a shame when men of today never learn and play the game
Guess a slippering or two might be the final taming of the shrew
*Image credit Everett Collection / Rex Feature. Seen in the UK Telegraph.
*This poem was inspired by the Workshop Players production of My Fair Lady presented in October 2017 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
