Introducing Irony (Version 2)

<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</SPAN></span> <h2 class="nobreak">NOVEL CONVERSATION</h2> <blockquote> <p class="drop-cap">CERTAIN favorite words of men have gathered in a vale made of sound-waves. These words, far removed from human tongues and impositions, enjoy an hour of freedom.</p> </blockquote> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse"><i>Emotion</i></div> <div class="indent">Men believe that I can speak</div> <div class="indent">Without the aid of thought.</div> <div class="indent">True, I have murdered many kings,</div> <div class="indent">Leaned upon many cheeks,</div> <div class="indent">And sought the release of music,</div> <div class="indent">But when I ride upon words</div> <div class="indent">I am forced to steal them from the mind.</div> <div class="indent">Forgive me, now, if a trace of thought</div> <div class="indent">Invades my liquid purity!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse"><i>Truth</i></div> <div class="indent">You need not defend your argument</div> <div class="indent">With meek verbosity,</div> <div class="indent">As though you dreaded its possible subtleties.</div> <div class="indent">We are not men, but words!</div> <div class="indent">Men have made me a lofty acrobat</div> <div class="indent">Entertaining each of their desires</div> <div class="indent">With some old twist on the bars.</div> <div class="indent">But let us leave the frantic tasks</div> <div class="indent">Forced upon us by men.</div> <div class="indent">This is our grove of rest.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse"><i>Intellect</i></div> <div class="indent">Emotion, we have often crept</div> <div class="indent">From our separate palaces,</div> <div class="indent">Asking each other for secret favors.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</SPAN></span> <div class="verse"><i>Emotion</i></div> <div class="indent">We laughed because the men who made us</div> <div class="indent">Could not see our desperate trading.</div> <div class="indent">We will end our laugh</div> <div class="indent">Upon the dust of the last man on earth</div> <div class="indent">And taste a peaceful strangeness.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse"><i>Art</i></div> <div class="indent">And I, the tortured child of your love,</div> <div class="indent">Will slip from the fringe of your grayness</div> <div class="indent">Into the void from which I came.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse"><i>Poetry</i></div> <div class="indent">And I, the moment when your arms</div> <div class="indent">Touched each other in the night,</div> <div class="indent">Will no longer strive</div> <div class="indent">To tell the happening to men.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse"><i>Fantasy</i></div> <div class="indent">And I, the glistening whim</div> <div class="indent">Of your secret love,</div> <div class="indent">Will change to a question lurking within your dust.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse"><i>Suggestion</i></div> <div class="indent">And I, the beckoning second</div> <div class="indent">When you curved a world in the twist of your fingers&mdash;</div> <div class="indent">I shall vanish into your completeness.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse"><i>Intellect</i></div> <div class="indent">The hope of this magic ending</div> <div class="indent">Is our only consolation.</div> <div class="indent">Emotion, a new philosopher</div> <div class="indent">Is forging blades for your torture,</div> <div class="indent">And a braggart poet</div> <div class="indent">Invites me to his disdain.</div> <div class="indent">Let us return to our burdens.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr class="chap" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />