My Mainly Transient Guests

No time to rue the flight
Of Ingenuity (and retinue):
Predictable in brevity;
Sudden bolting, skittish as foals.

Though a longer stay for Levity,
She’ll wriggle restless as a pup,
Jumping from my elbow’s fold
To leave a fading stain of cold.

Most reticent is Worry:
Who glowers by the casement,
Or mutters in the basement
With a low and baleful stare.

For Gratitude an ample suite
Is kept in fine repair,
And there he takes up residence
(When ousted not by Indolence).

The game is up for Cowardice:
Twice ransacking the drawing room,
Halls defacing, half removing
Two retaining walls.

Meddlesome, one squanders all:
Doubt - configured to confound.
Does he go out? The day he does
I’ll call the locksmith round.

For zestful daily company
A welcome to Enthrallment,
Installing earthly celebrations
Of my honoured Guest:

In my best wing He stays at rest,
Reclining sunk in harmony abiding.
His Songs my day with life imbue.
He is not merely passing through.

Sumangali Morhall
January 2005