After an Absence

I've been away for weeks, but now I'm back,
Fourteen more wacky lines of poetry,
What everybody still expects from me.
I really was away, so please, no cracks
About undue devotion to sweet snacks
Or goddesses quick-stepping from the sea
To hand out swords and cups of Ceylon tea.
I rise above such crude, needless attacks.

You must have wanted sonnets, since you're here;
I haven't offered anything but that,
So if you thought you'd find a bowler hat
Or ozone from the upper atmosphere
You've come to the wrong place. Try not to sneer —
You've come for sonnets. I won't leave you flat.