Evil has too many options. Actually,
Evil is too preoccupied to harm me.
Cut-throat self-interest cuts us in two
And evil exploits this division, true,
But my enterprise
Uses self-interest and defies
Self-interest at the same time. Surprise.
The bad will always be around, and should exist;
Not in cartoons; I need to resist
Evil which is real, every minute, by being nice,
Sensitive and nice—so when this poem smiles,
You will take this poem’s advice.
For instance, as a man, I loved you, yesterday,
Which I know was imperfectly.
My challenge is the same as Scheherazade’s;
She had to entice the king with tales
Or die. Unless I please you now, this poem fails.
That’s the way it should be.
I’m not afraid of evil, actually.
I can’t love you the way a man would, all day long—
So let me be a languorous woman.
A sexual feeling is quickly gone—
Like the thrill we get from a poem.
Evil may have—or may not have—taught me to do
Any of these interesting things I am going to do for you.