The Favor
by Artie Moffa

Don’t mention it
The favor that
I gladly gave,
The evening that
I helped you save.

Don’t mention the Augean task
That I performed through once and then
Redoubled and performed again
For you; I thought you’d never ask
Or ask, but make requests best left to mortal men.

Think nothing of 
Your music which
I had to lose,
My money which
I had to use.

Don’t think of any small expense
That I, in helping you, incurred
Through being helpful and absurd
Or any inconvenience
It caused; such as a stranger’s shifty glance or word.

No favor is too great
For you;
No line too long a wait
For you.

But if, in future times you need
A favor, when your time has slipped
Away, and something can’t be skipped
At all, I won’t perform that deed
For you; our current scales of who owes whom are tipped.