Subject: Re: Horse milk 
From: Kevin Wald <wald@math.uchicago.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.fan.cecil-adams

In article <slrncr5bs2.k62.no.spam@thurston.blinkynet.net>, 
Blinky the Shark wrote:

>> Hactar wrote:
>
>>>> Mead made from mare's milk is also mentioned in _Beowulf_.
>
>> You had some great alliteration going, there, until the end.

In the ancient Angles'        artful poems, 
If a consonant comes       to crown the third
Strong and strident           stress in a line  
That same sound's      in the second or first  
Or both those beats; it's not borne, however,
By the final foot,        the fourth. Therefore,
"The milk of mares         is mentioned in _Beowulf_"
Is written right,      by the rule stated.    

[From alt.humor.best-of-usenet, 2004-12-11]