Feminine Rhymes

Though few of us "sigh like furnace with ballads made our mistress's eyebrow" these days . . . a poem is still as good as a bunch of flowers when it comes to expressing our feelings about a lady we like. A poem is rather like a woman, come to think. A good poem may have a pleasing form, or by inner virtues compensate for this. A good poem does not reveal too much at once But leaves a lot to imagination's powers. Rather it teases without being coquettish. It is reticent but not prudish, for a poem that gives nothing away may well end up on the shelf. A good poem is not unapproachable, remote, like some model with a past. Too much logic jars in poems, too. Smooth rhymes can be a shade too glib. A good poem saves from complacency Without haranguing day and night. It can, of course, be taken to bed. It wife-like serves us food for thought and tells home truths with good intent.