Ultimatum, by Dorothy Parker

[murasakimuse.livejournal.com]

I'm weary of wearying love, my friend,
of worry and strain and doubt;
Before we begin, let us view the end,
and maybe I'll do without.
There's never the pang that was worth the tear,
And toss in the night I won't-
So either you do or you don't, my dear,
Either you do or you don't!

The table is ready, so lay your cards
And if they should augur pain,
I'll tender you ever my kind regards
And run for the fastest train.
I haven't the will to be spent and sad;
My heart's to be gay and true-
Then either you don't or you do, my lad
Either you don't or you do!


It's amazing when you find a poem that totally captures exactly how you feel or what you yearn to say. The trouble with poetry is this however; when you find the exact thing you want to convey to a certain party, you find that a lot of the time they don't "get it" or horribly misinterpret it. Especially if they don't have a poetic bent. I suppose the argument could go "Well if they aren't poetic, screw em."

Unfortunately if you argued that point in those words, I wouldn't find you terribly poetic either.