Another, albeit untitled, poem from Spike Milligan on the subject, from his book of various collected poems, stories and miscellaneous Milligan humour, The Bedside Milligan:
Rabbits they say
Are very scarce to-day
My diagnosis?
Myxamatowsis.
Notice the outdated spelling of "today", and Milligan's own approximation of myxomatosis. These are included because the version printed in the original is a reproduction of the original, hand-written by the author. It is interesting to note that there is only one adjustment (a deleted "is" before myxamatowsis), which perhaps indicates just how naturally such wonderful comedy flowed from the pen of the late great Goon.
As with all poetry, this poem must be seen in context to be appreciated. The book is peppered with Milligan's poems, most of which are no longer than this. After all, Milligan is the man who published a poem titled "String", reproduced in its entirety here:
String
Is a wonderful thing.
The poem is attached to another original creation by the hand of the author - a picture of an elephant, labelled "Non Rabbit Elephant". Wonderful.
The majority of his poems were, as one would expect, similarly comic and pithy. Nevertheless, as if to illustrate the often-discussed proximity of comedy and tragedy, Milligan suffered frequent bouts of manic depression through-out his life. These probably stemmed from his shell-shock incurred during his military service in the Second World War, but shell-shock was not a recognised condition at the time and the traumatised young soldier was thrown back into the ranks. This depression, and his thoughts on war, influenced another poem from the same book, named "The Young Soldiers":
Why are they lying in some distant land
Why did they go, did they understand?
Young men they were
Young men they stay
But why did we send them away, away?
The contrast of the two poems, just a few pages apart, is startling.
CST Approved
The text above is reproduced from Spike Milligan's "The Bedside Milligan", but without the permission of the original copyright holder. However, since it falls within the realms of 'fair use' (see the CST link above), it has been cleared.