The Murder of a Figure (of Speech)

When you chance upon a metaphor
never let it stand.
Knock it down and straddle it
and slap it with your hand.
Where it lurks, you must be sure
to pursue the loathsome creature
and tackle it with all your strength
in prose, at first, but then at length
take up your pointed instrument,
your meter, and your rhyme,
and pierce and gouge the bloody beast,
hold tight to it without release,
disfigure it and do not cease
to punish it with wrath sublime.
While others capture theme and meaning
and grasp at truth with language leaning,
broach no distractions, no other fight—
the metaphor must die tonight!