Noblesse Oblige

Mein gut freund, the gentle

Giantish Jewess from my school days

Once asked me,

"Who are these people in your house, Will?"

To which, faintly innocent,

I could only reply,

"Well this fellow, for example 

Is a potential suicide,

A soldier most fragile.

Here he may abide and be of use.

He has my countenance,

And my love, for what it's worth...

That, as the keen Birdy could tell you,

Is how my mom, that grande dame

Would see our house function, so there!"

[NOTE: There is to me a not-so-subtle alarm in this poem as, come to find out, the old school chum referenced at the start is currently in very actual and prestigious employment as federal law enforcement, and might be inquiring as to the identities of enemies who even now beset my real life family. The inclusion of popular musician Birdy is hardly random, as I am an huge fan of the sentiment at play in her ouvre, and she is after all a peer and a dear heart, as well...]