Familiarity

 Familiarity some claim
 Can breed contempt,
So from it let it be your aim
 To be exempt.
Let no one exercise his brawn
 To slap your back,
Lest he forget your name is John,
 And call you Jack.

To those who crash your private pew
 Be sour as krout;
Don't let them see the real 'you,'
 And bawl you out.
Don't call your Cousin William--Bill,
 But formal be.
Have care! Beware and shun famil--
 Iarity.

I'm quite polite. My hat I doff
 But little say.
I give the crowd the big brush-off,
 And go my way.
To common folk I do not freeze,
 I am no snob:
But though my name is Robert, please
 Don't call me BOB.

Form: Light Verse Comments

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Book: Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace