Deferentially (C) Poem by Margaret Alice Second

I’m angry, said the Duchess, looking at Alice
with swollen eyes after she suffered all night
with pain in her heart - I served the family -
Attila the Hun, his wife the waif, their 2 kids,
I did everything, ran up & down, you know
how FAR the kitchen from the patio & they
carried the coffee, milk and sugar back into
the kitchen BEFORE I had coffee myself

When I finished doing EVERYTHING all by
myself and wanted to enjoy their presence,
they claimed fatigue and went to bed and I
was left with hurt feelings because nobody
wanted to sit under the stars with me; Alice
replied, thinking deeply - Dear Duchess - &
she curtsied deferentially; Next time set
out the meal on the dining room table

Leave the coffee in the kitchen then invite the
guests to help themselves and converse with
them enjoying their company while they’re still
awake; NO, replied the lugubrious Duchess in
sepulchral tones, NO, I LIKE taking care of my
guests - that’s not the problem, my behavior is
beyond reproach - I always do my best for my
guests: THEY are the problem, I shall spurn

Them in future, not be home when they call,
they must learn to accommodate Me and all
MY lovely whims and Alice sighed; talking to
the Duchess was pointless - she rejected all
solutions & repeated her actions - expecting
a different result, insisting the others should
change & wait quietly until the Duchess has
time to be cosseted by them in their turn

Oi, my difficult Duchess, consistent behavior
does not teach you anything and no-one can
enjoy peace in your accusing presence, there
is just no solution for the problems you create
in haughty self-justification - if only my words
could reach you - even returning your emails
doesn’t help to show the logical implications
of your own illogical reasoning - And then -

A chastened Alice started reading Little Lord
Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett and
for that reason was snubbed by the Pilgrims
in Bureaucratic Paradise - by Pieter-Annette
and Pastoral-Hermien while Hanlie-Sunshine
ran off before Alice said anything, so reading
children’s books won’t be acknowledged in
their austere Spartan lifestyles where

Only death-dealing murderers and brilliant
detectives created by smart contemporary
authors are admitted in their existence – so
Alice felt dejected till Thokozile entered the
scene and sang their theme song – Heloee,
Heloee, Alice sang back and Pieter-Annette
plunged a knife into them while the naughty
offenders laughed about such terrible crime

Meantime an irritated Duchess kept scolding
her errant relations into subjection and Alice
is awaiting her fate - to be disciplined by the
ever vigilant, self-righteous Duchess…