#NationalPoetryMonth Day 18: Respectable Behavior

Another poem on this Day 18 of National Poetry Month.

 

Respectable Behavior

 

Perfect manners and a starched top hat,

around the park in a promenade show;

a charming smile and an exquisite cravat

 

Appearances are all, mustn’t be a prat

Hold the pose with a gentleman’s hello

Perfect manners and a starched top hat

 

Oh no, there’s Lord so-and-so, such a rat

Give your hand in greeting, then bestow

a charming smile and an exquisite cravat

 

Secretly wishing for that coup d’état

of pointless days, caught in the flow

Perfect manners and a starched top hat

 

You stand within society, and it all falls flat

when you dance the room, pretend to owe

a charming smile and an exquisite cravat

 

Isn’t there more to life than fashion and chat

and to drown your sorrows with French Bordeaux?

Perfect manners and a starched top hat

a charming smile and an exquisite cravat

© A. F. Stewart 2016 All Rights Reserved