Fawlty Reasoning

He saw the couple cuddling
and was appalled.
She was young enough
to be the daughter of
the married man in whose arms
she seemed so at home
his wife downstairs
talking on the phone.

In his hotel, his struggled for domain
not a castle but named for towers
as a nod to ancient chivalry
he had never known
yet for which he yearned.

Righteous anger burned
within his tortured heart
button eyes gleamed with
the light of rectitude.
He would make a stand
for all the values he held dear
would personally grit
the slippery slope of decadence.

"All right! Enough's enough!
I want you out!"
The consternation on their faces
balm to his
burning soul.
"Polly I want to see you
in reception in your hat and coat!"

Downstairs his own wife
in her lair dragonish smile
the scales would fall
once he informed her
of the goings on upstairs.

"She's his daughter, Basil"
and horror dawns
"they're all one family.
Polly was at school with her."

Yet again the two white vases disappear
leaving a blackened candlestick of shame
to hold the flame of his embarrassment.
Why can he never see the truth?
Why does the world lie to him?

Polly is standing in hat and coat
a look of puzzlement on her face
"Yes, yes very nice" he says
"now get back to work"
and so she does.

Racing up the stairs to the family's rooms
"I'm sorry I made a mistake"
"I'm sorry I made a mistake"
There they are and time to say
"I'm sorry my wife made a dreadful mistake."

"Yes" says the guest
"Yes I think she probably did."

Written in response to the writers Digest prompt write a poem about a mistake and its effect. This episode of Fawlty Towers always seemed very painful to me, more than any of the others. I always feel so much sympathy for Basil in this one, he is so innocent and well meaning and gets it so wrong so often. I have been thinking about John Cleese a lot lately too. He has had such bad 'luck' with his marital life and I wonder how much Basil Fawlty is in him and whether these lines of dialogue were somehow a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts.