I dance through the narrow lanes,

As Tipatina gently plays,

My life is syncopation,

That only she hears.

The lanes are groves,

And the tune rattles like a smoking train on buckled rails,

Stumbling thinly through the night,

Its single light picks out the traveller walking on,

Who has no place to go,

But beyond where he has been before,

The plotted route of tracks are clear,

You paint your nails as I sing,

To a record worn thin with tears.

I collect the notes as they fall,

Hammered from the strings

Into my world of sound and dreams,

A freedom from mundane day unfolds,

A pathway into ragtime nights,

Blue sights and slow drag dreams,

Dancing girls and slot machines,

I pick the notes from the dust and roar,

To see the high kick of the can-can girls,

Or hear the slide of shoes on a sanded floor.

This is our dance Suzanne, let your dresses down.

In candlelight I’ll hold you, and kiss you as we step

From now to then, from reality to fantasy,

From unhip to the height of style,

Dance with me upon this ragged mile,

Mortgage my body to your soul.

In the Maple Leaf the lights are low,

And the weary thief is waltzing slow,

Across the room to a wealthy man,

Who smiles when he shakes his hand,

But he cannot think of much to say,

The thief just smiles and walks away,

Another debt that must be waived,

Another soul that can’t be saved.

The ladies in their gowns and pearls,

Chat about their social world,

And blink as Charity passes by,

She’s much too cool to pass their eye,

She turns a heel, and leaves unheard.

You whisper to me through a rose,

And touch me with your subtle glance,

This night supports my belief,

That life is a blessing.

And now above the Maple Leaf,

We roll across the sheets,

Kissing.

Painted nails cut,

And the blood of love that seeps is blue,

I know the beating grip within.

You are the knowing lover of my life,

Without you there is no music,

Or rhythm or holding.

We move in time because,

Loving words are life’s rhyme,

And holding is the only freedom,

Believing is the only redemption.

We sail beneath the stars,

And the piano player now plays slow,

Through the saline night the light flows,

The dust of the road drifts through the sweet fruit of trees,

Where nature and God’s mercy breaths,

Now we draw deeply on time, turning,

Skirting ideals,

Which move from then to there,

Your hair across my heart is soft enough to drown in.

I will not leave,

for all the world is here.

The dark play its hand again,

Deep into the night,

Jack o Diamonds smiling down,

As we drift into sleep,

And soon the rhapsody of night is ending.

In a room above the Maple Leaf,

Morning crashes through the panes,

And the traveller and train are gone.

We awake in each other’s clasp and smile,

With nowhere to go,

But beyond where we have been.

And I put on my suit and sour face,

For in this light,

Piano players are rarely seen.

June 1995.