Around the World in the Good Ship DOGGEREL, 91

A doggerel series about the countries of the world.

Kyrgyzstan.

I spelled this country—slowly, though.

It is a word I didn’t know.*

The Silk Road wound its way across—

An early form of Profit-Loss.

In Central Asia—there it is—

And, fitting for a schoolroom quiz,

It takes a bit to spell the name—

Or find it in some world-map game.

It earlier was Soviet—

About as harsh as it can get.

But then came freedom—’91—

And since then it has been the one

So hard to locate and to spell—

And isn’t doing very well

Financially. But people there

Are working hard—and they all care,

And want their country to succeed—

To help them gain what they all need:

Some hope and some stability—

Rewards, they hope, for being free.

*how to spell!