David Mitchell - A Lament for the Apostrophe

(or, Some people do care about punctuation.)

O thou under-used punctuation-mark, that erst sang such sweet songs to us, but art being now dispensed with more and more! Thou art dying, and soon shalt be dead like a battlefield after battle. O that there were aught we could do to save thee, both from the Shawites who use thee not because they hate thy sight, and from those who simply cannot punctuate. O Colchester, Britains oldest recorded town! What a nauseating signpost; I cannot but look away from it. And whenas they seem on the one hand to deplore thee, on the other they scatter thee randoml'y into word's for no apparent reason! O thou ill-used apostrophe, thy deathknell tolls, alas!

(Saturday,5th November,2005.)

David Mitchell

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-lament-for-the-apostrophe/