Love Was The Dizzy Balcony

Love was the dizzy balcony
Where she waited, half afraid,
Of stars in the night and the
Poetry
Of a Spanish serenade.

Love was a graceful polonaise
Danced in the Kingdom of Sighs
Where the heart stands up like a petticoat
And falls when the music dies.

The lanterns burned orange with laughter,
The music was brilliant and loud
And the serpent leaped between them
As they stumbled into the crowd.

She thought that he was a handsome prince
Who lead her onto the floor,
Numb to the pangs of a woman grown
Who had never danced before.

The lanterns burned orange with fever,
Like stars in a blueblack sea,
The prince, he lolled in a corner drunk,
And the whores crawled on his knee.

Love was a single, high pitched note,
Caustic and silver clear,
Nothing less trite than a broken heart
Or a shattered chandelier.