REFLECTIONS

Phylllis McGinley

Solo 1: I wish I owned a Dior dress

Made to my order out of satin.

I wish I weighed a little less

And could read Latin,

All: Had perfect pitch or matching pearls,

A better head for street directions,

And seven daughters, all with curls

And fair complexions.

Solo 1: I wish I’d tan instead of burn.

But most, on all the stars that glisten,

I wish at parties I could learn

To sit and listen.

I wish I didn’t talk so much at parties.

It isn’t that I want to hear

My voice assaulting every ear,

Uprising loud and firm and clear

Above the cocktail clatter,

It’s simply, once a doorbell’s rung.

(She’s been like this since she was young)

Some madness overtakes my tongue

And I begin to chatter.

All: Buffet, ball, banquet, quilting bee,

Whatever conversation’s flowing,

Solo 1: Why must I feel it falls on me

To keep things going?

Thought ladies cleverer than i

Can loll in silence, soft and idle,

Whatever topic gallops by,

I seize its bridle,

All: Holds forth on art, dissects the stage,

Solo 1: Or babble like a kindergart’ner

Of politics till I enrage

My dinner partner.

I wish I didn’t talk so much at parties.

When hotly boil the arguments,

Ah! would I had the common sense

To sit demurely on a fence

And let who will be vocal,

All: Instead of plunging in the fray

With her opinions on display

Till all the gentlemen edge away

To catch an early local.

Solo 1: Oh! there is many a likely boon

That fate might flip me from her griddle.

I wish that I could sleep till noon

And play the fiddle,

All: Or dance a tour jete so light

It would not shake a single straw down

Solo 1: But when I ponder how last night

I laid the law down,

All: More than to have the Midas touch

Or critics’ praise, however hearty,

Solo 1: I wish I didn’t talk so much.

I wish I didn’t talk so much.

I wish I didn’t talk so much.

When I am at a party.