CABARET BLUETTE

The dancers in the cabaret
Close-swirling to suave melodies
Shuffle feet, mingle syllables-
A manic crowd in music's sway.

Above the throng, a vivid voice
Begins a lyric strain and makes
A chanson d' amour that wakes
Desire; for by her vocal choice

A vivifying spell is cast-
In quick electric utterance
Bright-arcing voltage sparks the dance
Like energy of lovers' haste.

The shufflers halt. For so vibrant
Is this charged song, that some are stunned
And shocked within, because they find
Their own love live and resonant.

The dancers leave the cabaret;
Some shamble home with fuddled heads,
But others, hot in heart, to beds
That wait for slumber, dreams or play.

The singer, feeling drained and flat,
Returns home too; drinks a nightcap,
Crawls up to bed, her vital sap
Of art consumed, her work complete.

~ Stanley ~

Dedicated to my wife, Wyn