what does the trick

[fledgist]

 there are no rules that do not become stale

with greasy age but never quite can fade

into disuse there's an unspoken trade

that does not need the ruler or the scale

but measures all those things that must avail

to keep us steady when we call for aid

the ones who never come out to parade

but without whom the enterprise would fail

these actions have the qualities of rite

imbued with meaning sanctified by age

yet all the agents seem such normal folk

people who sleep through the short hours of night

would not be caught dead strutting on the stage

but will not bend beneath the whip or yoke