Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HINTS FOR THE TRANSACTION OF PUBLIC BUSINESS: OF A CHEERFUL HOPE, by ALFRED DENNIS GODLEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HINTS FOR THE TRANSACTION OF PUBLIC BUSINESS: OF A CHEERFUL HOPE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Whene'er you do to meetings go, as many such there be
Last Line: Vote the other way.
Alternate Author Name(s): Godley, A. D.
Subject(s): Public Meetings


Of a Cheerful Hope

WHENE'ER you do to Meetings go, as many such there be
(And few and far those persons are who home return to tea),
Then take with you this principle, to cheer you on your way --
The less there is to talk about, the more there is to say.

Of an Exordium.

Consult your hearers' happiness, and state for their relief
That you'll avoid prolixity and study to be brief:
For if you can't be brief at once, 'twill comfort them to know
That you'll arrive at brevity in half an hour or so.

Of Obedience to Rule

Should e'er the Chairman censure you, as Chairmen oft will do,
And tell you that you miss the point, and bid you keep thereto,
(Though points are things, by Euclid's law, that always must be missed --
They have no parts or magnitude, and therefore don't exist) --
Obey at once the Chairman's hest (because, as you're aware,
It is a most improper thing to argue with the Chair),
Accept his ruling patiently, without superfluous fuss,
And state the things you might have said -- unless he'd ruled it thus.

Of a Peroration

And when you've spent your arguments yet somehow still go on
(It shows a want of enterprise to stop because you've done),
Don't search about for topics new or vex your weary brain,
But take what some one else has said and say it all again.

Of Impartiality

And when at last your speech is o'er, be careful if you can
That none may hint -- a horrid charge -- that you're a Party Man:
So speak for this and speak for that as blithely as you may,
But keep your mental balance true, and
Vote the other Way.





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