Familiarity

Robert William Service

Familiarity some claim
          Can breed contempt,
So from it let it be your aim
          To be exempt.
Let no one exercise his brawn
          To slap your back,
Lest he forget your name is John,
          And call you Jack.

To those who crash your private pew
          Be sour as krout;
Don’t let them see the real ‘you,’
          And bawl you out.
Don’t call your Cousin William—Bill,
          But formal be.
Have care! Beware and shun famil—
          Iarity.

I’m quite polite. My hat I doff
          But little say.
I give the crowd the big brush-off,
          And go my way.
To common folk I do not freeze,
          I am no snob:
But though my name is Robert, please
          Don’t call me BOB.

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