Ode to Odes

They ask me to write something called free verse

in which from odes rhymes are completely disperse
Dear poetry why are you going from bad to worse
The way you're headed you'll end up in a hearse.

When poems rhymed they had such a zing

just to read them aloud was akin to sing
and such cheer to your heart they did bring
so why change it to a prose like thing

To take rhyme out of poetry sounds all wrong

like taking the melody out of a song
or from a bell removing its gong
or from a heart the desire to belong!

Like taking away the salt from your food

or stealing the engine from under your hood
or robbing a poor poet of his solitude 
or taking away warmth from motherhood.

As out of place as without water, a fish

or without the yearning to achieve, 
a wishwhat would be left would be such rubbish...
Your fate dear poetry causes me great anguish!

So you who are taking away from poetry its rhyme

please don't insist that I abet your crime
If to writing verse I'll devote my time
I'll write this way, even if doesn't fetch me a dime

You could write me off as a romantic fool,

not up to the times, not what you'd call 'kewl'
but with the stubbornness of an obstinate mule
I'll always write in rhyme when poetry I spool!

Gunjan

I have no idea who "Gunjan" is. This is not my work; got it off of a website.