Pinot from Pomeroy's

Leo McKern portrays Rumpole the brief.

Of thespians, Leo’s Commander-in-Chief.

His treatments show Horace no plush toy from Steiff.

Yet, sadly, he lacks his C. K. Scott Moncrieff

to decipher his tales for the Mont Blanc massif,

perhaps with a "lost on the ice" leitmotif.

All erstwhile attempts have, en fin, come to grief,

as unfulfill'd readers exclaim, “Where’s the beef…?”

Nevertheless, it’s my fervent belief --

and, I'm quick to admit, this all comes as relief –

that soon shall arrive gli autor’ with a sheaf

of splendid translations which turn a new leaf

in the book of the spread of the Rumpole debrief.

(A further admission: I wholly would lief

if these versions be render'd by Ciaran O’Keeffe.  

Consider my verses your aperitif.)