by Frank O'Hara (1926-1966)
Notes: The title means "the yellow labels" or "the yellow tags" in French. But "etiquette" also means a list of guidelines for right or polite behavior.
Integrity: honesty; decency. It comes from a Latin word meaning "whole."
Neurotic: always needlessly anxious.
Chameleons are reptiles that can change their color.
*
I picked up a leaf
today from the sidewalk.
This seems childish.
Leaf! you are so big!
How can you change your
color, then just fall!
As if there were no
such thing as integrity!
You are too relaxed
to answer me. I am too
frightened to insist.
Leaf! don’t be neurotic
like the small chameleon.
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