Cyril composed a bit of verse (5)

I believe the answer is:

lyric

'a bit of verse' is the definition.
(lyric is a type of poetry)

'cyril composed' is the wordplay.
'composed' is an anagram indicator.
'cyril' with letters rearranged gives 'LYRIC'.

(Other definitions for lyric that I've seen before include "Text of a popular song" , "Words to a song" , "Short poem of songlike quality" , "Expressing poetical emotions" , "Expressing the poet's emotions" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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