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Dashiell, J.M.
LORD BYRON
If enlightenment you seek, do read this:
My passions have matured yet unlike claret
The fire of their aged alcohol you miss:
My poems are now antiques in a garret
Whose felony of dust shames their notice,
Therefore, to make news like a brash cornet
I hail myself once more with numbers loud
To sound above the conventional crowd.
Back from the depths like a persistent cat,
I say to modern man that he hasn't
Discerned from my passions the truth or that
He has declined to drink truths more pleasant,
(Not that the ale he drinks is stale or flat
But that it flows less than effervescent),
So, I take pause to demonstrate what's right
Before I go a roving late tonight.
I shall reveal the truth in one moment
But first allow me one moment to dally
As feline paws do with a small rodent,
And tell you that paradoxically
I, in passions, have not my essence spent:
My passion builds for a grand finale
Preceded by an allegro of games
Which hold their heat to distract with their flames!
Likewise, my wisps of flame toy and tease,
And only offers quick views and glances
For coals are excited by breath and breeze
Made hot by flirtatious blows and chances,
And by this I snare hearts by light release,
A captain hid in his army's lances,
This I learned via feminen deceit
Who mimic true love like harlots who cheat!
Ah, Ladies, you are not the pure heaven
I've wanted you to be and be always!
Yet you have burst dreams composed of leaven,
(That like a wedding cake begins to rise
Yet sinks with disappointment in the oven)
For you have struck a sword in disguise
That's left me like a clubfoot out of joint
Which feels the anguish of your vivid point!
There, now I've let the cat out of the bag!
A cat I was that dallied with its paws
Who broke forth with speed after slouch and sag
Then bit the rodent in his lightning jaws!
Now, Ladies, be excused before we snag
For I've a compensation for your flaws
Who revelation depends on whether
You can put two and two together!
---J. Michael Dashiell
From "I'm fond of rhyme" (1989)
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