Playtime Poem by Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis

Brothers!
(I address myself to that chosen few - which includes you,
My dear reader - who
Are men of understanding, bright intellect and horse-sense, and to no others).
Brothers!
There comes one little period in the day
When each of us may say,
'Away!
Away with care and thoughts of toil and stress and pain!'
And, as we journey home in car or tram or train,
Let us leave office worries far behind,
Banish domestic troubles from the mind,
And just go gay.
Say,
Once a day,
For just a few brief minutes let us play.
Let us be joyous, and, with quip and quirk,
Forget the drudgery of daily work,
And, from this daily column
Banish the somnolent, the sad, the solemn.
Let us foregather, brothers, and discuss
Eliminating all the fume and fuss
The vagaries of our uncertain weather,
Let us commune together
Upon the steadfastness of politicians,
The fate of nations, and the strange conditions
Imposed on us in this, our daily life . . .
Mayhap, indeed, the wife
Waits home to greet our coming with a tale
Of household woes to turn a strong man pale;
Mayhap, forsooth, our business affairs
Have loaded us all day with heavy cares.
Leave all behind.
Shed, for a while, all trouble from the mind.
Let us
Discuss
The hot sock
And the short frock:
Of men and modes and manners let us talk,
Giving dull care a cunning miss in baulk.
We WILL be gay!
Just once a day!
We shall consider strikes in merry mood
And even joke about the price of food,
And all that sort of thing.
So it may bring
Joy to our hearts and to our worn minds ease.
I shall do all the talking, if you please,
And if, perchance, you cry, 'How bright!
How clever!'
Why, then, of course - However,
The thread of my discourse is somewhat broken,
But, brothers, I have spoken!