The old Verdi is the new Joe Green,
you know what I mean? The known
universe is a known unknown.
So it’s decided. The computers turned us on.
The new Nixon and the old Nixon are one.
The new Terence Winch is the new thirty.
Clean is the new dirty. Birds are the old
proverbs. Nouns are the former verbs.
New is the no yes, old fact, best guess.
Now is the new then. Then is the new never.
“O Sole Mio” is “It’s Now or Never,”
is my only sunshine, and “There’s No Tomorrow.”
Joy was once sorrow. The Old Testament was once
the new wave. English is the new French.
The Known Universe is the new Terence Winch.
— David Lehman