Like a Broadway Revival waiting its turn,
“Please” and “Thank You”
Wait in the wings.
Special purpose words, honorifics of a sort
Paving the way for smiles and success.
Who owns them?
Everyone, you and I,
Trillions of living and long-past gone.
Origins in strange forgotten tongues
Skipping through a curlicue alphabet,
Into thoughts of multitudes
They must travel from minds with purposed intent,
Past heads ablaze with gratitude,
To lips, air sufficient to explode,
Making courtesy the order of the day.
A nod, a wink, a cockeyed grin
Confirms society agrees,
You got it right.

Charlene James-Duguid
Amissville, Virginia
12/16/18