People I Don't Want to Meet

There are people who say
It is wrong to be gay
In this workaday world of ours;
They live far apart
From the pleasures of art
Discarding sweets for sours.
One would think from their creeds
God gave us the weeds,
And the devil provided the flowers.

Of course I’m aware,
Earthly joys are a snare,
And the laugh from my lips I should banish,
I ought to throw dust
O my head-but I must
Catch that silvery gleam ere it vanish.
As my colours combine,
What a kingdom is mine!
Though most of my castles are Spanish.

Prose, Poems & Parodies of Percy French, 1980, Helicon Limited, Dublin.