Let Us Talk, Let Us Laugh

Let us talk, let us laugh, let us tell
all kinds of things to one another;
men and women, let us be
gay and amusing together, and free
from airs and from false modesty.

But at the same time, don’t let’s think,
that this quite real intimacy
of talk and thought and me-and-thee
means anything further and physical.

Nay, on the very contrary
all this talking intimacy
is only real and right if we
keep ourselves separate physically
and quite apart.
To proceed from mental intimacy
to physical, is just messy,
and really, a nasty violation,
and the ruin of any decent relation
between us —