Setting Precedent

Gladly, setting precedent is only
little death. They were your words
expressed until you sent them on
their way; hard-won words they
were revealing private things
seldom seen in light of day.

But, you sent them on. And now
they lie in distant fields beyond
your keep where freedoms dance
to different tunes and out of reach.
Doesn’t mean they’re lost but you
can’t teach them decent etiquette
in dismal retrospect.

All the same your name appears
along with other words appended
by a readership who play the game,
right or wrong, sing in tune or hum
another’s song. Glory be – this one
has claimed its far too long!

You can defend your words until
they stand alone. You’ve fed an
audience too willingly who dine on
grist for free, but heed, insisting they
must pay with praise to win your
smile won't birth a better poetry.
© 22 February 2010, I. D. Carswell

With no rules for analysis behaviour tends to flow the way of the most verbose