Introducing Irony (Version 2)

<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</SPAN></span> <h2 class="nobreak">CANDID NARRATIVE</h2> <h3>I</h3> <blockquote> <div class="hangingindent"> <p><i>A chorus-girl falls asleep and, in a dream, speaks to a former lover. In her dream she holds the intelligence of a poet but still clings to certain of the qualities and mannerisms of her wakeful self.</i></p> </div> </blockquote> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="verse"><div class="drop-cap3">SAY, kid, I&#8217;m in a candid mood;</div> </div> <div class="verse">The kind of mood that silences</div> <div class="verse">The babbling dampness of my character.</div> <div class="verse">I&#8217;m feeling as improbable</div> <div class="verse">As an overworked Grecian myth</div> <div class="verse">Fainting amid the smells of a Ghetto.</div> <div class="verse">Now, Hypocrisy</div> <div class="verse">Always slinks along</div> <div class="verse">Winking an opaque eye at reality.</div> <div class="verse">But when he spies a fantasy</div> <div class="verse">He feels disgraced and leaves in haste.</div> <div class="verse">What&#8217;s the use of telling a lie to a lie?</div> <div class="verse">So, since I&#8217;m only a dream,</div> <div class="verse">Listen to my candid scream.</div> <div class="verse">You like to press a rouged cheek</div> <div class="verse">Against your obscurity,</div> <div class="verse">Like a third-rate poet</div> <div class="verse">Pasting a sunset upon his emptiness.</div> <div class="verse">Bashful mountebanks like you</div> <div class="verse">Can seduce the eloquent delusion</div> <div class="verse">Of time and give it a speechless limp.</div> <div class="verse">The insincere trickle of your words</div> <div class="verse">Was neither silence nor sound</div> <div class="verse">But falteringly tempted both,</div> <div class="verse">Like a tiny fountain unnoticed</div> <div class="verse">At the feet of two large coquettes</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</SPAN></span> <div class="verse">The intricate laziness</div> <div class="verse">Of your dimpled face</div> <div class="verse">Received a petulantly naked</div> <div class="verse">Ghost of thought, and seized it without desire.</div> <div class="verse">Again it held the furbished effigies</div> <div class="verse">Of sensuality</div> <div class="verse">And tried to give them life</div> <div class="verse">From the weariness of my face.</div> <div class="verse">Yet I could have endured you</div> <div class="verse">But for the fact that your moustache</div> <div class="verse">Scraped across my lips</div> <div class="verse">Like a clumsy imitation of passion.</div> <div class="verse">Trivial insults have tumbled down</div> <div class="verse">The pillared complacency of empires</div> <div class="verse">Just as the thrust of your lips</div> <div class="verse">Tripped my mercenary balance.</div> <div class="verse">My lover now has the face of a dog,</div> <div class="verse">With each corner of his lips</div> <div class="verse">Pointing to a different Heaven,</div> <div class="verse">Yet his greed and melancholy</div> <div class="verse">Sometimes fondle each other</div> <div class="verse">Upon the pressures of his mouth,</div> <div class="verse">And the monotony of his kiss</div> <div class="verse">Does not dissolve my stoicism.</div> <div class="verse">Women who measure their gifts for lovers</div> <div class="verse">Never hope for more than this.</div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />