House of Burlesque

Form: interlocking tercets

We danced the paths and moonlit street
We caught the beat upon our feet
And entered in the burlesque house

Inside the din musicians play
And on the stage a stripper lay
As she slowly removed her blouse

She danced seduction’s arabesque
Still, mechanically grotesque
Confined to arts of a whorehouse

We watched them all where dancers spin
To the drum beat and a violin
In the sultry heat of free will

The dancing girls on puppet strings
Like skeletons as Smokey sings
And we watched them go through the drill

Then we danced leading by the hand
With courtly steps, a saraband
The lust for night grows longer still

And on the floor a puppet breast
On to a paying lover pressed
And whose to judge this kind of thing

In the post passion cigarette
We danced in love and no regret
For sex don’t need a wedding ring

©JGFarmer2021