Elegance (Revised) Poem by Margaret Alice Second

Here’s a disturbing lesson in ethics with virtues for us
to apply: ‘People without real morals should have high
standards’, meaning it is a breach of good manners to
hurt those who cannot defend themselves, worse than
offences against humanity - aha!

Nursery-room psychology for upper-class morality – it
is in bad taste and shows a lack of bon-ton, so flawed
in elegance its more deplorable than African genocide,
more unsettling than eccentric wars in Iraq; elegance
is a wonderful, elusive quality that entices

A blasé Great Gatsby statement, a Shantaram moment
in a Bombay café; ah, elegance with crystal chandeliers
against Baroque ceilings, tuxedoed assasins listening to
classical music while packing guns in black velvet violin
cases - this is perfected humanitarian ethics where

Altruism’s seen in choosing elegant funeral clothes…