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                                        ­    Leaving the Party

              “You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting
                With much admired disorder.”

                             -Lady Macbeth in III.iv.109-110

The party we leave is not the party that was,
Beginning in optimism and good will
In rooms well-lit with generosity and thought -
Ideas thoughtfully spoken and thoughtfully heard

We have all left a party for fresh air
To escape from hollow laughter and cliches
From shouted arguments and whispered schemes
Half-empty glasses and sour cigarette smoke

Screamed taunts that sting, a hive-like waspish buzz -
The party we leave is not the party that was