How to Get On in Society & Other Poems

By John H.B. Martin

How to Get On in Society 
By John H.B. Martin 

I 

When nature blushes, in the Spring, because  
the scent of blossom's at its sexiest then,  
that's when I feel the least ashamed, and yet  

the most ashamed at Nature's complex wrong  
since blushing does become the human face 
much more than make-up, say—or lies—or anger— 

so Nature's face and childhood's face are one,  
with innocence the universal theme 
(Though I feel much less innocent than either).  

So, on that far horizon, when the sea  
just bites into those barren hills, and skylarks 
leap high into the skies, like fountains of  

pure song, I see a way out from my present  
impasse … But not a place where I belong.