You Say You'll Marry Him...

You say you’ll marry him:                       You say you’ll marry him:

I’ve never seen him laugh                      ‘Look at me,’ he trumpets,

though I’ve seen my son cry -                ‘pulled up by my bootstraps

not for the moon, of course,                   (hoist with his own petard?);

for understanding                                   abolish private schools!’

(you say you’ll marry him?)                    You say you’ll marry him?

hearing cold ‘Christ help you                  He sent his son to one

if you come to my class                          because he couldn’t cope,

because I don’t want you...’                    for reasons left unsaid -

You say you’ll marry him?:                      you say you’ll marry him:

You say you’ll marry him -                      You say you’ll marry him?

but surely not for that,                             Light a penny candle

that viciousness, that power,                  in the dragon-wife’s lair,

inverted snobbery                                   in the cold mausoleum

at leaving school so young                     cluttered with yesterdays -

(you say you’ll marry him)                      you say you’ll marry him;

and still doing so well;                            in the now of your life

down-town roots thrust at you                let it illuminate

in studied arrogance.                              blind corners of the mind -

You say you’ll marry him.                       you say you’ll marry him.

You say you’ll marry him:                       You say you’ll marry him -

is he still maintaining                              this man who sneers, tight-lipped,

that all men can achieve                        ‘I hate children’, mocks them;

equality though that                                binds them for hours rigid

is patently untrue?                                  in public desks of shame.

You say you’ll marry him?                      You say you’ll marry him?

Is he still demanding                              In the now of your life,

impossible standards                             for all your tomorrows,

from childhood’s also-rans?                   ask:  Do you know this man?

You say you’ll marry him?                      You say you’ll marry him...

(September, 1989)