Social Amenities

I am getting on well with this anecdote,
  When suddenly I recall
  The many times I have told it of old,
  And all the worked-up phrases, and the dying fall
  Of voice, well timed in the crisis, the note
  Of mock-heroic ingeniously struck--
  The whole thing sticks in my throat,
  And my face all tingles and pricks with shame
  For myself and my hearers.
  These are the social pleasures, my God!
  But I finish the story triumphantly all the same.