Silent Indignation

Listen. Will you listen very carefully.
And, after your romantic propositions,
You may well, forever, wonder how,
The naive and apparently innocent
Has quietly come to know it all;
The wittiest, cleverest scholars
Might emulate or gainsay her and
The brightest most alert playwright
Can create sensational, mocking scenes
That her divine, intricate nuances
And her careful, subtle silences,
Can deconstruct quite brilliantly,
As she laughs soundlessly in the face
Of gestures and careful declarations,
Which come but coarsely to the point
Of not expecting to meet any opposition,
Save for some hesitant coquetry,
From one who, once seemed willing
To surrender to the exaggerated,
Impulsive and overstated courting
Of clumsy, impetuous men who have never
Listened: and certainly not very carefully.