Please note that this poem is pure fantasy!

 

Tone Poem

 

Oh, really, I find it so unutterably tedious

to be polite when faced with one so odious

as you. And yet, I must say

that you do, at times, take my breath away,

at least when I forget all your manifold flaws,

and the gold stashed beneath your creaky floorboards;

 

but I don't mean to be too unduly unkind,

it's just that I find it near impossible to unwind

at the end of the day:

   Please let me explain, if I may:

 

You see, I come from a long line of dreamers,

most of whom turned out to be the worst kind

                                                        of schemers;

and I'm sorry to say that they were, without fail,

both sardonic and deceptive, and mostly in gaol -

well, at some point in their unspeakable lives;

unsurprisingly, not one of them survives.

 

But their stories of easy and dishonest gain

made a powerful impression on my impressionable brain,

and yes, I was listless putty in their hands,

so eager to please, while imagining Cannes …

                                … in the summertime.

 

Oh, what a fool! – it's all been my fault,

and now I've performed yet another assault

on a blameless wretch. I can only wallow

in pitiful failure, with lots more to follow.

Yet I can't seek forgiveness - it's just not my style,

and I'm sorry for my rudeness, and - oh, wait a while …

 

… I now realise (and I hope you're beguiled)

that I once was a wondrous and whimisical child:

affectionate, witty, or so I've been told,

so peaceful and happy, and not ten years old!

 

Would it prove disrespectful to acknowledge the fact

that somehow, at some time, I've probably backed

a few slow-ish horses, one or two lazy hoops?

I'm resigned to the future (like my family's dupes!).

 

So when you come up with these flashes of brilliance,

take account of your listeners' respectful resilience -

if you please. I won't be envious, mocking, naĩve,

but:

'Oh, what a tangled web we weave

when first we practise to deceive'.

 

Chris Hubbard

San Francisco

2017.