(A kind reader improves on my dilapidated memory:)

Dear Mr. Derbyshire—Regarding your query re: ‘The Ionian Spoof’, your memory serves fairly well. The author of the verses was Archilocus. I’ve been carrying that bit of data around since taking Greek Lit as a sophomore in 1988, and am delighted to have finally found a use for it.
Here’s the fragment in question:
Some Saian mountaineer
Struts today with my shield.
I threw it down by a bush and ran When the fighting got hot.
Life seemed somehow more precious. It was a beautiful shield.
I know where I can buy another
Exactly like it, just as round.