| |
The word is oppose and in po'try or prose,
I suppose (and who knows?), if a rose is a rose,
Then I pose that our oppositional proclivity,
Far from being so bad, is not all negativity.
It is said humans rose to oppose other hominids--
Won with arrows and rocks and not even bomb-inids!
Take a look at your thumb: it is owned by the genus
That conquered the world with just brains and a... grip.
And if you oppose that interpretation,
You oppose even driving Renaults with elation.
Nations, in war, oppose others attacking,
As pacifists do with violence lacking.
Heresy comes when you oppose sacred tenet.
Challengers oppose incumbents in the Senate.
Abolitionists and their Free-Soil Party fellows
Opposed Southern slav'ry with voice like a bellows.
Racists exist to oppose racial mixing.
Liberators live for tyranny nixing.
Censors oppose rights like freedom of speech.
Iconoclasts trash every idol in reach.
Conservatives oppose big government bloating,
Though liberals oppose them by pre-emptive voting.
Progress is opposed by each reactionary,
And I guess someone somewhere opposes the Tooth Fairy!
But... make a wish... it might come true.
It's all up to you. It's all up to you.
Now, when you oppose, then you somehow object,
Though an object is the subject of an action, I suspect.
And a subject owes allegiance to a king or a ruler,
And a ruler makes straight lines -- what could be cooler?
A line is a wire for electric transmission.
And a wire is a message that's asking permission.
And a message is a moral that embodies conviction.
Which conviction is a judgment in any jurisdiction.
Though a judgment could sentence you to heaven or hell
And hell is a place where you wouldn't do well!
In fact, it's the place where the fire grows and blows
'Round the handbasket that ferries you -- that I oppose!
So, yes, you'll oppose inconsolable woes,
But let me propose that you dare not dispose
Of the throes of your passion, for then you will find
That, aside from the friction, it's all in your mind!
Opposition is friction, you see, and that's pleasant.
And what's pleasant can hardly be bad, past or present.
And a present is something you give as a gift,
And a gift has potential for spirits to lift.
And a lift is a ride to a place far or near.
And what's near you oppose at a cost that is dear.
And what's dear you would never oppose, take my word.
Yet to love without conflict is somewhat absurd.
But... make a wish... it might come true.
It's all up to you. It's all up to you.
To oppose is to resist -- to be in opposition,
But a pose is a phony posture or position.
A position is a job that you take in a firm.
And firm is a pose where you stand and don't squirm.
And to stand is to rise all upright on your feet.
And upright is one strictly and morally neat.
To be neat is to be systematic: that's normal.
Systematic is regular, usual, formal.
And formal is clothing you wear to a ball.
As you see from what I wear -- I oppose it all!
But that doesn't mean I'm a negative guy.
There's a lot that I'm for and there's much that I'll try.
If I state things in negative terms, I say cheerily,
It's for clarity's sake, and I want to speak "clearily."
I oppose being fearful, or shy, hiding out.
I oppose sotto voce when you really should shout.
I oppose lies and pretext, and dissimulation.
I oppose any force making war on our nation.
I oppose most intolerance and incoherence.
I oppose human cruelty, and even the appearance.
I oppose those who tell me what I may not say.
I oppose those who tell me where I cannot play.
I think I oppose most opposition to freedom.
And opposers like that -- don't you think that we need 'em?
Well... make a wish... it might come true.
It's all up to you. It's all up to you.
--Uptight, Late-Night, Stage Fright Ronald, The Duke of Doggerel
Ronald Bruce Meyer is a freelance doggerelist.
|