CUSTOMS.

Is it customary to address an equal
In formal tones somewhat obsequious?
Or standard etiquette to find
The grammar of a man unfold?
To wander through the book of words
Until you find the ones that burn,
And send them with the latest facts
And run away before they’re back.
Or rise the next day to a bill
From someone quite impersonal,
And read the lines before your eyes
And slowly have to recognise
That this poor soul is far too sad
And serious to hold his job.
And having shrugged away his words
Be summoned by his brief absurd,
So that the only option left
Is to wield an axe and make a cleft
In his revenue…