The Metrist at the Operetta

By tuning somewhat low the second violins
And somewhat high the first, the two-faced
Viennese Attain the sound of sugar; just as, hurrying
The second beat, they CPR three-quarter time.
Exactitude is not a way to animate,
And, although honesty may be a policy,
It’s not a beat to dance to. Face it: in the arts
It is the tricks that are the trade. The firm head-snap
That holds at bay a ballet dancer’s vertigo;
Perspective (false perspective being no more false
Than any); make-up and impersonation; trope.
A metronome confirms clockmakers’ art, not this.