A Serious Poem

This is a serious poem

It wears a serious face

It will not fritter away the words

It knows its place.

Perfectly balanced

Neither too long nor too short

It gazes solemnly heavenwards

Like a real poem ought.

Familiar with the classics

It drops names with ease.

Here comes Plato with Lycidas

And look, there’s Demosthenes!

A serious poem will often end

With two lines that rhyme.

But not always.