Lines

LINES We LINE up in traffic, or clear out the door, And there are BEELINES we make, to the seashore. Get mad and we're "DRAWING A LINE IN THE SAND," He USES A LINE when he asks for her hand. You're in A LINE OF WORK, it's where you can shine: LINEBACKERS, LINE EDITORS, and TECHIES ONLINE. You're in the CHORUS of a big Broadway play, Or dancing in LINES with the CORPS DE BALLET. I'll "DROP YOU A LINE," when you're on vacation, Get there by CRUISE LINE to your destination. Fly on an AIRLINE, but you cannot fly straight, In crossing a BORDERLINE, COASTLINE, or State. In HEADLINES, OUTLINES, or given the GUIDELINES, We calculate "READING BETWEEN ALL THOSE LINES." DEADLINES and TIMELINES we must try to meet, In interviews for FRONTLINE of the man on the street. She is dressed to the nines, with the highest HEMLINE, And her jeans are drying on a breezy CLOTHESLINE. The kids throw their sneakers to the TELEPHONE LINES, They're outside and swimming, their TAN LINES are signs. CUT IN THE LINE, CROSS A LINE, this may give you trouble, Especially the LINES that are yellow and double. You don't want to FLATLINE, when you become very ill, But you will, when you see LINES from your itemized bill. There are the Maths that are used for LINES X, Y, and Z, And a BASELINE to measure what we're trying to see. We may draw PARALLEL LINES with our ruler in place, These LINES actually meet when they curve out in space. Then there's games with LIFELINES, we try not to burn, There's LINES FROM A SCRIPT that we try hard to learn. LINES READ in poetry, played in music, sung in song, It's the memorized beauty of the gifts passed along. Whatever THE LINE IS, that we find most adoring, It's NOT keeping the order we find so abhorring. We humans are LINEAR in most of our thinking, It's the CIRCLES and CURVES that'll drive us to drinking. By Edlynn Nau © February 9, 2016