Near-Rhyme

It’s often used in lyrics

Since the music cuts some slack

But each time I get to hear it,

I am taken some aback.

 

For to me, who is a purist,

It’s a point in fact that I’m

Quite a stickler who objects to

Any near- or almost-rhyme.

 

Sometimes laziness explains it,

Or the closeness of a word

To a rhyming one makes writers

Think a real rhyme will be heard.

 

Often there is nothing fitting

With the word the poet chose.

Finding others to replace it

Is a job each stickler knows.

 

There are many who will argue

Even Shakespeare sometimes fudged

Though that knowledge doesn’t faze me;

My beliefs will not be budged.