Courtesy

By Kaitlyn Grissom

If talk and chatter doth one's knowledge prove

Then call me ignorant, for I am wont

Of silence, which above all else I love,

And find thy noise too harsh, thy speech too blunt.

Compulsory complaints and "How d'you do's"

Pollute the mind with scant frivolities.

The reflex recitations that we use

Are empty words and petty courtesies.

Imagine if th'unnecessary words

We needn't say, were quietly understood,

And only the outstanding thoughts were heard,

Then surely this would do the world good.

Beware of chatter, and for silence' sake

Let only worthy words that silence break.