Do What You Must

There are things one must do in high society.
One must maintain appearances…and all that.
Know your manners. 
Know your place setting. 
Know your place.
Be social, congratulate profusely
and defer when appropriate.

There are things one must not do in polite company.
So escape expectations.

Run away at night.
Scratch up your feet.
Collect a few blisters.

Shiver and gasp 
in a gleaming blue spring 
of spring run-off.
Then run on.

Find old trees but respect not the elders.
Treat them as social ladders, and climb!

It’s lonely at the top, I’m told. 
Nothing but a canopy of green.
Is it money? Jealousy? 
Just leaves, perhaps…leaves? Leave?

OH! LEAVE!

Get your feet back on the ground
Where moon-cast puddles of light
lay dappled between dancing shadows.
Take in the dizzying ballroom.
Spin ‘til your head spins.
Sing if you want to…or better yet

SCREAM!!!!!

And scream again, 
just to hear the world scream back:
"There are things one doesn’t do in polite company."

Screw it.
Run! Swim! Climb! Dance!
Scream until the world hears you! 
Let them scream back. They surely will.
But there are things one must do,
In wild country.

04/03/2020

Copyright © | Year Posted 2020



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Date: 8/16/2025 5:23:00 AM
"There are things one doesn't do in polite company" and We are relationships we can't do in merely polite company. You always invite me to feel something about what we may both be thinking, and yet probably not saying, in merely polite company.
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Date: 9/24/2023 11:17:00 AM
Oops me again! Blown away by * moon- cast puddles of light lay dappled between dancing shadows * powerful imagery!
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Date: 4/3/2020 10:05:00 PM
An enthralling read; nice!
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