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GRAMMAR with a HAMMER

Two verbs we cannot separate,

No matter how we try –

No matter how they irritate –

They’re simply, “lay’ and “lie.”

For, “lay” needs an object to work,

Whichever  – off the shelf.

To lie upon one’s bed ’sno quirk,

Since one lays down oneself.

“Now, I lay me down to sleep,” is

A well-known verse to most.

“ ‘Reflexive’, I marked on the quiz,”

One may be proud to boast.

While on one hand, one says, “I lay,”

That’s speaking in the past.

But, should one want “to lie” on hay,

The “present” die is cast.

For, “lay,” you see, ‘snot “lay,” at all,

When used as “past,” for “lie.”

It can be used to “place” a ball

Or “lay” a railroad tie.

An object, “lay” needs all the time;

It cannot act alone.

It cannot rest as “lie,” sublime,

To whose past it is sewn.

The “past” for “lay’s,” another thing,

But, makes more sense than “lie’s.”

“Laid” shines brighter than a rapper’s bling;

It’s “regular” and wise.

“Past participles” for these verbs

Yet further complicate.

For “lie”: “have lain” – but not for curbs –

The bed’s t’anticipate.

But, to “have laid” and object down,

Is proper at its core.

For,  “lay’s” not “lie,” and not a clown;

They’re each a diff’rent door.

Best we stop here, there’re other “lies”

And “lays” of diff’rent stuff.

No matter how much grammar tries,

It never tries enough!