THE SWINGLES CAME TO TOWN
The guard caught us,
huddled behind the wings
and kindly enough led us out.
We therefore
huddled against the doors
ears pressed
to the polished wood. Kindly
enough it let the music
Out.
And the music
reached us,
straight to our bitterness
and mute helpless anger,
despite
the callous stare of the seller of souvenirs.
Throughout a fugue
she complained
of a backache which had been bothering her.
Her husband got the worst of it, poor soul;
she didn’t know why he put up with her, ho-
nestly. It was really marvelous.
Marvelous,
the beautiful people exclaimed
As their eyes sought evidence
that
they were
being seen
in the gleaming lobby.
(You people are dead...)
Marvelous, they said,
and mentioned this or that piece
while their eyes carefully avoided
carefully avoided
the quiet corner
where we sat.
But the floor was clean enough.
After the intermission the doors shut in
the cool expensive air
again.
What a pity, the souvenirs seller’s eyes
Communicated disgustedly, that the music
wouldn’t
stay in as well.
