Ask Nicely. Say Please. It Shows

​Ask nicely. Say please. It shows
That you have breeding. Ask for air
Or cheese. Ask for a mountain or 
A leaf. And get out of your chair

Go downstairs and look for yourself.
Pick up the phone, go to the store,
Pay the bill, change your rumpled shirt,
Look through the spy hole and open the door,

And then your request will shine
On your act and will give it life. A half-
Hearted “please” is a throwaway line,
Its singeing the feathers of the seraph,

Because you don’t really think that you’ll get
What you want. You say that you do, you
Want to be good—“oh please!” you think
It’s a kind of a spell—but think kangaroo

On an Australian plain, a cockatoo
In Taronga, a shrew in the grass,
Your request is the spray of the river,
The morning fog of the fir pine pass.