Nash on Duty
Kind of an Ode to Duty
by Ogden Nash
O Duty,
Why hast thou not the visage of a sweetie or a cutie?
Why displayest thou the countenance of the kind of conscientious organizing spinster
That the minute you see her you are aginster?
Why glitter thy spectacles so ominously?
Why art thou clad so abominously?
Why art thou so different from Venus
And why do thou and I have so few interests mutually in common between us?
Why art thou fifty percent martyr
And fifty-one percent Tartar?
Why is it thy unfortunate wont
To try to attract people by calling on them either to leave undone the deeds they like, or to do the deeds they don’t?
Why are thou so like an April post mortem
On something that died in the ortumn?
Above all, why dost thou continue to hound me?
Why art thou always albatrossly hanging around me?
Thou so ubiquitous
And I so iniquitous.
I seem to be the one person in the world thou art perpetually preaching at who or to who;
Whatever looks like fun, there art thou standing between me and it, calling yoo-hoo.
O Duty, Duty!
How noble a man should I be hadst thou the visage of a sweetie or a cutie!
Wert thou but houri instead of a hag
Then would my halo indeed be in the bag!
But as it is thou art so much forbiddinger than a Wodehouse hero’s forbiddingest aunt
That in the words of the poet, When Duty whispers low, Thou must, this erstwhile youth replies, I just can’t.
Mel B said,
Mar 26, 19:38 #
So hey, just checked your site out from Joey’s to see if you were the Trist that I know… which now I see that you aren’t. Yet, I wanted to say how much I enjoy how you write and what you say… a refreshing mix of playfull with profound.. well done! Funny too… I just posted tonight as well about the issue of duty… ‘to do or not to do’ why have we lost the desire to first just ‘be’. Maybe you’d want to check it out… www.melbeesbuzz.blogspot.com
Peace,
Tristan said,
Mar 26, 19:58 #
Thank you very much Mel. I wish I could say I wrote the above poem. Hopefully you didn’t mistake it for mine and form the above judgments solely on that premise! In my vanity, and desire to be respected at all costs, for now I’ll assume not.
Tristan said,
Mar 26, 20:04 #
Also, I’m always interested in new blogs. I’ll check it out.
Kelly said,
Mar 27, 09:35 #
Congratulations on mentioning Nash without reference to the famous phrase in which Stevie Smith is decscribed
Nash writes: “Who or what is Stevie Smith, is she woman? Is she myth?’”
“Slipping from her secret nook/ like a goblin or a spook.”
Tristan said,
Mar 27, 09:46 #
Yes. I was saving that for the next time I mentioned him. One can hardly bring Ogden Nash up too often.
Stevie Smith, on the other hand, sometimes resembles an overplayed record. A little worn out, wouldn’t you agree?
steph said,
Mar 27, 14:40 #
i certainly agree!
Kelly said,
Mar 27, 18:27 #
if she seems that way, its only because her admirers would like to rekindle a love for her that has somehow been lost when less skilled pens have sought to immortalize their own writings not through their skill but through their controversial way of living…
Abu Nudnik said,
Jan 5, 11:41 #
Nash was right on re: Stevie Smith. He got her dead to rights. It has nothing whatever to do with her imitators: her poetry itself is very limited, like a tiny shrivelled bit of lemon peel with just that drop of bitter juice. Is that a vision?
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