Introducing Irony (Version 2)

<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</SPAN></span> <h2 class="nobreak">MANNERS</h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="verse"><div class="drop-cap2">GINGERLY, the poets sit.</div> </div> <div class="verse">Gingerly, they spend</div> <div class="verse">The adjectives of dribbling flatteries,</div> <div class="verse">With here and there a laceration</div> <div class="verse">Feeding on the poison of a smile.</div> <div class="verse">In the home of the poet-host</div> <div class="verse">That bears the slants of a commonplace,</div> <div class="verse">Eagerly distributed&mdash;</div> <div class="verse">The accepted lyrical note&mdash;</div> <div class="verse">The poets sit.</div> <div class="verse">The poets drink much wine</div> <div class="verse">And tug a little at their garments,</div> <div class="verse">Weighing the advantages of disrobing.</div> <div class="verse">(It is necessary to call them &#8220;poets&#8221;</div> <div class="verse">Since, according to custom,</div> <div class="verse">Titles are generously given to the attempt.)</div> <div class="verse">Sirona, cousin of the poet-host,</div> <div class="verse">Munches at the feast of words.</div> <div class="verse">She endeavors to convince herself</div> <div class="verse">That her hunger has become an illusion.</div> <div class="verse">The poets, capitulating to wine,</div> <div class="verse">Leave their birds and twilights,</div> <div class="verse">Their trees and cattle at evening,</div> <div class="verse">And study Sirona&#8217;s body&mdash;</div> <div class="verse">Their manacled hands still joined</div> <div class="verse">By the last half-broken link.</div> <div class="verse">Beneath her ill-fitting worship</div> <div class="verse">Young Sirona fears</div> <div class="verse">That the poets are wordy animals</div> <div class="verse">Circled by brocaded corsets....</div> <div class="verse">Sirona, if you stood on your head</div> <div class="verse">Now, and waved the brave plan of your legs,</div> <div class="verse">Undisturbed by cloth,</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</SPAN></span> <div class="verse">The poets would be convinced</div> <div class="verse">That you were either insane or angling.</div> <div class="verse">But an exceptional poet,</div> <div class="verse">Never present at these parties,</div> <div class="verse">Would compliment your vigour</div> <div class="verse">And scoff at the vain deceptions of privacy.</div> <div class="verse">Vulgarity, Sirona, is often a word</div> <div class="verse">Invented by certain men to defend</div> <div class="verse">Their disdain for other men, who chuckle</div> <div class="verse">At the skulking tyrannies of fashion.</div> <div class="verse">Few men, Sirona, dare to become</div> <div class="verse">Completely vulgar, but many</div> <div class="verse">Nibble at the fringes.</div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />