Jazz Hands By Lee Cassanell

See the weight of the world in the breath of a girl puffing rolled cigarettes by the wayside She's a slip of a thing but Oh Lord she can sing any song for a piece of your change. I saw her last week with my tongue in my cheek I said 'What would you do for a fiver'? She replied with a wink 'For a five and a gin I would flog my own mother and father.' See the scar of a wound near a Popeye tattoo on the wrist of a man who looks ghostly His moustache runs wild on a face that last smiled on the day that his wife met her maker.

I saw him last Tuesday while I was out boozing I said 'How you feeling my brother?' He stood up with his glass 'Raise a toast for our lass and the last time I told her I love her' See the lust in the eyes of the lady who spies on the man sat alone by the window In a dress that looks borrowed she waits for her moment to pounce when he's to drunk to care. I saw her last night I was warm and polite when I said 'Did you sleep with that fellow?' She came over all blue 'We went back for a screw then he told me my teeth are too yellow.'

See the wear on the face of the boy who has aged far beyond the few years he has wandered Every whisky he's sank left a mark on his cheeks that flush red when he inhales a breath. I saw him just now at the end of the bar I said 'Joe how are you this fine morning?' He took me by the hand 'Pour a shot my good man and we'll drink until drinking gets boring'. See the lie on the lips of the woman who sits with her husband just back from the desert He's been off making war while she hoovered the home and fed children that cannot say Daddy.

I saw her last eve do Lambada with Steve I said 'Isn't such dancing forbidden?' She smiled over my way 'Let me live for today and tomorrow I'll keep my love hidden'. See the spark of a flame on the end of a smoke that slow burns on the road to another. The daydreams of thought slip away in the boat that drifts off to the moons of the mind. He saw how it was and he said to himself 'Son you've got to give up to get over' Now resigned to his fate he turns off the lamp light and pretends he don't want her, or know her.

Copyright ©2007  Lee Cassanell

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