The Book Club

Propriety permits propinquity

Provided that all our drawers stay up

Selecting art's harmless society

We taste of, but do not drain, lust's warm cup

We began with epistles and some psalms

Made our way through Ovid's myriad forms

Now the words of Dante moisten our palms

As Francesa wades through Paolo's tear storms

He's promised us some Rousseau by and by

If we behave, and are discrete, de Sade;

A thousand and one nights are bound to fly

While we maintain this silky, neat facade

He insists that reading is a pleasure

Secretly, we'd prefer chest to treasure