Uncoupled

Uncoupled

A cup without a saucer is a mug;
These days we don’t insist they be a pair.
Being a couple’s not always so snug;
Still a cup-less saucer’s merely spare.

Self-sufficient cup did you consider
While you were feeling rather smug
The used teaspoon, those odd drips should go whither?
A cup without a saucer IS a mug!

Such informality’s our modern drug;
To rise above ourselves we hardly dare.
Duty and Decorum are met with a shrug;
These days we don’t insist they be a pair.

Tradition says, ‘they were made cup and saucer’
‘Linked through ups and downs as in a hug’.
But fragile ideals often break asunder
Being a couple’s not always so snug.

Remaindered saucer, it must surely bug
You – that cup-shaped dimple you’re forced to bear
Long after fate has pulled away the rug
Still a cup-less saucer’s merely spare.

Self-righteousness will plead that fate was ever
A bull in the fabled china shop, a thug
Charging me double on the never-never
Reeling me in with a resistless tug –
A cup without a saucer.