809. GRATIFICATION DEFERRED

GRATIFICATION
DEFERRED
The cellophane on the lampshade
meant something - a certain tension
of a vague dimension. A brittle, but
united, gentility passing itself off as
social grace or a social face. No matter
what anger beneath the pretense.
The dim light was splattered
on lampshades and the
lamp-base statues
remained unmoving.
-
The lamp, the table, the piano,
the couch : everything all-together
in as still a sitting-room as we
could not touch. Someday,
maybe someday, but
not this day.