Knife and Fork ( a villanelle)

We work in partnership ‘tho seldom meet
but neither can we do our jobs alone,
a hand to hold us makes our team complete.

We know we should be edgy and elite,
our handles, often ivory or bone.
We work in partnership but seldom meet.

Not needed to eat soup or cream of wheat,
we keep our council, lying distant, prone.
No hand to hold us, team is incomplete.

“Knife cuts me” I cry “and calls me effete.”
little does knife know but we’re all a clone,
we work in partnership and seldom meet.

The cutlery wars rage, with no defeat.
Our canteen is shattered, its cover blown,
a hand to hold us makes our team complete.

Victory’s easy but so bittersweet,
beating my drawer-mate, my sharp chaperone.
We work in partnership but seldom meet
a hand to hold us makes our team complete.