Those Early Words

Reading those early words wryly
brings fragile pleasure – a spare
grin lingers, there’s a rare uplift
in spirits usually dour to baseline;
seems we’re almost reconciled in
denying the same consequences
concealing a leer long lost from
fabulous ages past and gone

And they were treasured times for
sure – flair omnipresent, no doubt
concerns and we could never fail;
purity of thought pranced casually
on pages, frolicked in open rhyme
and aired rhythms in a burlesque
extravagance – nothing mattered
but the words and what we were

Cheered by pure innocence and a
heart of gold it shocked to learn
not all shared the same nature; it
was there we forged armour worn
as bonhomie – swallowed all the
elixirs dictionaries contained and
swore allegiance to a glamorous
view of our brand new unity

Yes, power springs again from
the same words – it means we’re
still in resonance, less upbeat but
in tune nonetheless; these days
we’d allay others fears with more
circumspect consideration but we
still agree with that oblique leer,
claustrophobic tongue in cheek
© 15 February 2012, I. D. Carswell