Law Blog Poetry Special

September 22, 2006, 8:13 am EST

LAW BLOG

L'Affaire H-P: A Law Blog Poetry Special

Posted by Peter Lattman

This morning we're doing some serious pre-gaming for H-P CEO Mark Hurd's press conference, scheduled today for 1:05 p.m PST. The papers are filled this morning with stories on Hurd (here, here, and here) asking how much did he know, and when? Hurd has offered to testify before Congress and at today's press conference we�ll hopefully learn more.

Yesterday, Law Blog reader Andrew Sprung, proprietor of Sprung Public Relations, told us that our headline "Hurd Wants to Be Heard" reminded him of a poem he wrote a decade ago--wholly unrelated to H-P's boss--in which he managed to string five 'hurds' in a row. So without further ado, the Law Blog presents Andrew Sprung's "Herd Instinct":

Herbert Hurd, cattle thief

incompetent beyond belief.

He was excellent with his

ear to the ground

he could hear a herd

and track it down.

But his voice was grating,

his smell unpleasant.

Cows were uncomfortable

with him present.

When Hurd heard a herd,

he'd charge, flushed with greed.

When the herd Hurd heard heard Hurd,

they'd stampede.

One day Hurd got

a herd coralled

at the edge of a cliff

he whooped and yowled.

The agitated

cows conferred.

What happened next?

No more was Hurd.