taciturn

do I want a Darcy?

taciturn and aloof

rarely showing proof

of affection through

his layered affectation,

always sending my thoughts

in the wrong direction,

but beneath it all -

the soul of discretion

and of temperament fine

once the line of acquaintance

is crossed? Am I Lizzie

or am I lost in another book?

am I an Emma by a Knightly forsook?

am I a Dashwood? a Morland? an Elliot?

am I a Fanny; timid, insipid, and delicate?

or am I Isabella? or worse, am I a Lydia

who's destined for penury, censure, chlamydia? 

am I too rash or too rude or too guilty

to score for myself a man like a Tilney?

Or perhaps I should stop

to ask what it's costing -

judging all men (and myself)

by the standards of Austen.