“How lovely in the garden are your eyes, <br />your lips, your mouth, your breasts, you legs! ” I say, <br />but she rejects my comments: “Is it wise <br />to comment about parts that I display <br />without a choice, and cannot hide? I’d rather <br />you’d comment on my scintillating wit.” <br />I say to her: “From what you say I gather <br />that I have sadly failed to make a hit.” <br /> <br />Although I like to visualize vacuity, <br />some ladies seem to wish that men would take <br />them seriously and comment with acuity <br />about their mind, not body. They will fake <br />an orgasm for men who are prepared <br />to listen to their every word before <br />they ask them to make love, as if men cared <br />about the play that comes before the fore. <br /> <br />My vagrant moods require some slight twist <br />before I can appreciate the charm <br />of minds of ladies I have never kissed <br />because their serious thoughts caused me alarm, <br />but sometimes when the night is starless <br />and they need company, I’ll be their guide, <br />and tell them: “If by chance you should be carless, <br />quite happily I’ll offer you a ride.” <br /> <br />Inspired by T. S. Eliot’s “Conversation Galante” <br /> <br />I observe: 'Our sentimental friend the moon! <br />Or possibly (fantastic, I confess) <br />It may be Prester John's balloon <br />Or an old battered lantern hung aloft <br />To light poor travellers to their distress.' <br />She then: 'How you digress! ' <br /> <br />And I then: 'Some one frames upon the keys <br />That exquisite nocturne, with which we explain <br />The night and moonshine; music which we seize <br />To body forth our vacuity.' <br />She then: 'Does this refer to me? ' <br />'Oh no, it is I who am inane.' <br /> <br />'You, madam, are the eternal humorist, <br />The eternal enemy of the absolute, <br />Giving our vagrant moods the slightest twist! <br />With your aid indifferent and imperious <br />At a stroke our mad poetics to confute-' <br />And-'Are we then so serious? ' <br /> <br />6/6/05<br /><br />gershon hepner<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/how-lovely-in-the-garden-are-your-eyes/
