Poem: Conversation Galante

Updated May 6, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Conversation Galante

 I observe: "Our sentimental friend the moon! Or possibly (fantastic, I confess) It may be Prester John's balloon Or an old battered lantern hung aloft To light poor travellers to their distress."   She then: "How you digress!" 

 And I then: "Some one frames upon the keys That exquisite nocturne, with which we explain The night and moonshine; music which we seize To body forth our vacuity."   She then: "Does this refer to me?"   "Oh no, it is I who am inane." 

 "You, madam, are the eternal humorist, The eternal enemy of the absolute, Giving our vagrant moods the slightest twist! With your aid indifferent and imperious At a stroke our mad poetics to confute--"   And--"Are we then so serious?"