InfraStructure

 Downstairs the ceiling overhead consists
 Of beams and joists and rough unfinished boards ---
 The splintery skeleton of floors above
 That varnish, tile, parquet, or carpet hide
 From delicate perception, lest offense
 Be given to the senses of the sleek
 Who glide from room to room on polished tracks ...
 Exchanging pleasantries ... sipping their drinks ...
 Admiring the portraits on the walls
 Beneath the chandeliers that sprinkle light
 To mist bare maiden shoulders with a dew
 Of wealth and beauty. Music now cascades
 Soft in a waterfall of liquid sound.
 A dozen conversations splash and fade
 Like waves upon the shore of a bright bay.

 But underneath the surface of the sea
 A colder current flows. The denizens
 Of basement chambers, servants of the house,
 Can hear the creak of floorboards as new guests
 Arrive and doff their cloaks. They know their job,
 These underfolk: to stand, obey, and wait
 Upon their betters. So they lift their eyes
 To naked bulbs, stark shadows, rafters, planks,
 Preparing to put on a cheerful mask
 Of gracious acquiescence in their rôle.
 They fix their smiles in place and go upstairs.

• Tuesday, December 26, 2000 at 07:05:51 (EST) = Datetag20001226

TopicPoetry

(correlates: TurfProtection, ConFormation, GentlemenPreferBlondes, ...)