"now! stay the course,
then shall we toast
your now-remembered illusion of success!
suffer but these few indignities,
your future house with shutters and a cement sidewalk
will pay you back in full
and more! but carry through,
oh pretty aspidistra, hear not the ancient song
of typewriters straining for dull-tapped words:
they sing of lies
from so many by-gone years.
but listen! here's all the hard stuff, see?
suffer just this once, perhaps
once more, or twice, but nothing further.
that's only how it's done! and well, then
pouf! no more anything but noble success,
a trading in of expensive chains for
well-salaried whips." but ha!--
i will deny these empty toasts
by failing miserably. you see, i win!
these many shards of hard-earned shame are cruel charades on luck;
for tomorrow all we'll know is still the favor of paper gods.
12/8/08
I like the rhythm. It seems to fit the mention of a typewriter.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I would use just in lines 1 and 4, at least not in both lines.
Line 8. song's could just be song, and I don't see the need to repeat old.
The last two lines provide a strong ending.