Hair Ribbons

When we were young, we looked on them as creatures
Inalterable in nature, as in form and features;
Diffidently to be approached, and shyly to be attended,
Extravagantly to be admired, and valiantly to be defended.

We needed no vile diagrams, being not such fools;
Innocence was not yet outlawed in primary schools.
With swift clean flashes of thought we were able to sense
What was their similarity, and what their difference.

And in order to make this clear distinction clearer,
And preserve those distances that keep the genders dearer,
They wore bright symbols of their strict inalterability:
Hair ribbons they wore, who were, yet who were not as we.

Manners have gone to the dogs since the hair ribbons departed;
Song is not sweet, nor verse versatile, nor folks open-hearted.
There is a blur in the eye, and the mind is annoyed
By a mania, and the ear by a monosyllable inaccurately employed.

From Boundaries