Words Over A Bridge

Dug the wily wizard guards the bridge:
standing watch over the Bridge of Stanzas
ever vigilant so that only the true poet may pass
while the rest can only gaze at the greener grass.
To prove that they are a poet true
three trialling testing challenges must be passed
that is all Dub asks for those who wish to pass.
Yet budding poet beware;
these terrifying tests have sent some mad
the writing strain proving too much for their brain.

Along came the first contestant,
dressed in fine Oriental garb
though in truth from central Texas,
and said this to the worm of words:
"honourable one
accept this given token
let me pass freely".

Then came the second
sporting a smirk and bounce in their step
a jolly hat perched askew on their head
and a bundle of puns under one arm,
they spoke to the squirm of syntax:
"There once was a writer
who was a bit of a fighter
with pen and sword
and many a word
was a satirical blighter."

Finally came the third
dragging reams and reams behind them
every page covered in blue language
an epic of their erotic odyssey,
they opened their mouth to recite their odious verse
but before they could
Dug zapped them with a spell
so they said instead:
"Oh to be a lonely cloud
and think above the world
far from the so maddening crowd
to fly unhindered above
basking in the sunshine
watching over all I love
that is my greatest desire
to be able to float freely
before I sadly expire".

Yet for all the Worm's wizardly wisdom.
poetic wiles and wordy cunning,
they had been outsmarted and undone
as the three poets joined hands
to cross the bridge together,
as Dug had forgotten to state that the three challenges
must be completed by each and every poet.
So it was that the wily worm was thwarted,
unable to wriggle out of this predicament
as countless poets flooded over the bridge
spouting poetry to all and sundry
oversaturating the world with poems
until no one wanted to read them anymore,
oh dear!