lady fair

fair lady may you be un-torn

amid the looks that are forlorn

the singleness of every hue

and words that hurt as if on cue

 

i’ll make it plain in this refrain

i hold such words in high disdain

it’s not their message i abhor

for they are right we both are whores

 

but let your ears be out of reach

of their behest and their beseech

they propagate with proud disgust

and slip us coins amid their lust

 

they’re ostentatious for the crowd

then virtue less behind the shroud

that hides the bed where both our heads

are interwoven with the thread

 

i’d make a stand if i believed

in something beyond you and me

but all the teachers all around

have but one thought that they expound

 

that everybody must be saved

they have the only working trave

divinely sent alone are they

all others will lead you astray

 

the love they know i’ll never know

and risk the riddle down below

unless i stop all i am now

and be the me that they avow

 

so let not words from parted lips

disdainful stares or muttered quips

conceal your face with veils of tears

i’ve no more strings for puppeteers

 

for sheer less sheep still share the blame

amid the guileless shepard’s claims

to follow that hypnotic voice

is what our God will call a choice

 

so lady fair without a prayer

one day we both they will outwear

and deed us both a plot of dust

when we’re too old for wanderlust

 

but happy still i think we’ll be

amid the bliss of reverie

where we will write our one insight

they veil themselves as beings of light

 

***