EXOTIC PETS AND DIVAS
THEY TALKED OF “Beauty” and “Truth” in those far off days. No one sneezed in the music room. Loving couples were made of Italian marble. Our “goddess” had huge white wings made of lightest gauze. She played the piano favoring the black keys. Her lover's hands fluttered; his sighs flew heavenward. Everywhere one met with upraised eyes. The old women hid behind their fans where they turned into tall vases.
O sunsets and golden domes! The liveried servants tiptoed in and out, their mouths sewn shut with red thread. In their hands they carried death masks of famous poets. There was one for everyone to wear while the tea was being poured.
All of a sudden they all vanished. The clock in which Time sits like a prisoner shifted its chains. There was only a loveseat left with its paws of a wild animal and a smell of smoke at twilight. Old chimney fires put out by long autumn rains.
