The clerk called me “Sweetheart” as I paid my bill
and checked out of the grocery store line.
In reply, I apologized for my poor memory.
“I’m sorry, our affections were so long ago
I do not remember our trysts or your name.”
Actually, I said, “Have a nice day,”
cliché countering cliché,
two sincere insincerities,
a tacky form of civilizing glue.
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sincere = (L.) ‘without wax’ ‘sin’ = ‘without’ ‘cere’ = wax When roman sculptors scratched or nicked a marble
statue they were turning into a human likeness, some would fill in the blemish with marble colored wax to
disguise the flaw. Statues without a filled-in flaw were inscribed ‘sincere’ to indicate they were pure marble
with no wax.
Some of what we say in our public life is said for the sake of pleasant civility.