Speak No Evil

Six slovenly inebriated men engage in their regular crepuscular activity nursing their beers with desultory chit-chat in the penumbra of a local restaurant. One man, whose jealousy of those with opulent lives makes him the most cynical, is pontificating about the idle rich who live off the backs of the poor when he eyes an exuberant woman with obvious halcyon life-style, who enters the establishment, diamonds on one hand and looking strangely out of place, a young child on the other! With an immediate visceral reaction, the man swears venomously at the woman. She, with a sonorous voice, puts a finger up to her ruby lips, turns to him and replies, “We can’t always control our thoughts; nor what we may be forced to see and hear. However, we can control our words. Sir, restrain yourself, and speak no evil.” Written Jan. 31, 2016 For the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" ten word challenge Poetry Contest Words used: crepuscular, desultory, exuberant, halcyon, cynical, visceral, sonorous, penumbra, opulent, jealousy