Introducing Irony (Version 2)

<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</SPAN></span> <h2 class="nobreak">IMAGINARY PEOPLE</h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <h3>I<br/> POET</h3></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse"><div class="drop-cap2">YOU have escaped the comedy</div> </div> <div class="verse">Of swift, pretentious praise and blame,</div> <div class="verse">And smashed a tavern where they sell</div> <div class="verse">The harlots&#8217; wine that men call fame.</div> <div class="verse">Heralds of reckless solitude</div> <div class="verse">Have offered you another voice,</div> <div class="verse">But men are still a tempting jest.</div> <div class="verse">You roam and cannot make a choice.</div> <div class="verse">When you have played distractedly</div> <div class="verse">With a humility, you tire</div> <div class="verse">And change the pastime to a pride.</div> <div class="verse">These are but moods of one desire.</div> <div class="verse">You throw an imitating gleam</div> <div class="verse">Upon the dwarfs that line your road,</div> <div class="verse">Then with a worn hostility</div> <div class="verse">You tramp along beneath your load.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <h3>II<br/> WOMAN</h3></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse"><span class="giant">T</span>O hide your isolation, you become</div> <div class="verse">Tame and loquacious, bowing to the men</div> <div class="verse">Who bring you ornaments and poverties.</div> <div class="verse">Your cryptic melancholy dwindles then,</div> <div class="verse">Solved by the distant contrast of your words.</div> <div class="verse">Your loneliness, with an amused relief,</div> <div class="verse">Sits listening to your volubility</div> <div class="verse">And idling with an enervated grief.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</SPAN></span> <div class="verse">The play does not begin until you say</div> <div class="verse">Your last &#8220;good-night,&#8221; for you have only made</div> <div class="verse">A swindled fantasy regain its parts.</div> <div class="verse">Throughout the night you held an unseen blade</div> <div class="verse">Upon your lap and trifled with its hilt,</div> <div class="verse">And now you lift it with submissive dread.</div> <div class="verse">Should you attack your loneliness and grief</div> <div class="verse">Now that they are asleep? You shake your head.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <h3>III<br/> CHILD</h3></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse"><span class="giant">L</span>IKE puffs of smoke inquisitively blown</div> <div class="verse">Across the slight transparency of dawn,</div> <div class="verse">The births of thought disperse upon your face.</div> <div class="verse">A tenuous arrogance, when they have gone,</div> <div class="verse">Clings to its tiny wisdom and denies</div> <div class="verse">The feeble challenge. Warm emotions swarm</div> <div class="verse">Upon the flushed impatience of your face</div> <div class="verse">And merge to lordly, evanescent form.</div> <div class="verse">New sights bring light oppression to your mind.</div> <div class="verse">You struggle with a hunger that transcends</div> <div class="verse">The glistening indecisions of your eyes</div> <div class="verse">And wins a flitting certainty. Your trends</div> <div class="verse">Lead to a fabled turmoil that escapes</div> <div class="verse">The stunted messengers of trembling thought.</div> <div class="verse">Yet, when your hand for moments closes tight</div> <div class="verse">You feel a dagger that your fears have caught.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</SPAN></span></p> <h3>IV<br/> OLD MAN</h3></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse"><span class="giant">B</span>ELOW your skull a social gathering glows.</div> <div class="verse">Weak animosities exchange a last</div> <div class="verse">Chat with emotional ambassadors</div> <div class="verse">Who honor the importance of your past.</div> <div class="verse">You turn your hammock and surrender limbs</div> <div class="verse">To sunlight, and increase the hammock&#8217;s swing</div> <div class="verse">As though you suavely bargained with a friend.</div> <div class="verse">Its answers are impersonal and bring</div> <div class="verse">A tolerance that wounds your lack of strength.</div> <div class="verse">A final insurrection cleaves your rest.</div> <div class="verse">You raise your back, then lower it convinced</div> <div class="verse">That motion now would be a needless test....</div> <div class="verse">And with your falling back, the gathering</div> <div class="verse">Within your head melts through a door, chagrined,</div> <div class="verse">And everything within you dies except</div> <div class="verse">A blue and golden hammock in the wind.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr class="chap" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />