Gypsy's Dance

She'd go into the streets at night
and dance a pretty twirl.
The men would gather 'round to see
the beauty of this girl.

Her hair was dark as midnight oil,
her skin the softest tan,
she was the prettiest gypsy girl
to be found throughout the land.

Her eyes were shaped like almonds and
the palest green in hue,
her lips, as red as rosebuds, held
a kiss for lovers true.

Her scarlet skirts, as deep as blood,
were made of liquid silk.
Her dark curls framed her oval face,
her smile was sweet as milk.

She danced a strange hypnotic reel
of mystery and pain.
Behind wives' backs the men would come
and ask for her again.

Sometimes she'd follow them home to bed
and there a service render.
She'd look into their lustful eyes
and whisper words so tender.

At dawn she'd walk the paths alone,
full of fear and strife,
her meager payment in her hand,
ashamed to live her life.

Upon her entrance kids would dart
to gain a simple prize,
twelve starving faces full of hope
and hunger in their eyes.

She'd paint a smile upon her lips
and portion out her wage.
"Buy only what is necessary
to feed a child your age."

"Mama's drunk," said sixth in line
a strapping boy of ten.
"She says you need to do the chores
and care for us again."

She let not the slightest feeling crack
the cover of her mask
and proceeded to be the oldest one
and did as her mother asked.

The children all left one by one
and headed into town,
and as the last two left the house
she fell upon the ground.

Tears of pain streamed down her face,
she yelled with all her might,
"No man will ever come for me
and save me from my plight!"

"I've been engaged in harlot sin
for far too many years!
This scar cannot be washed away
by any amount of tears..."

She made a very grave decision
to be carried out that night.
As the children all came home
she said that all was right.

She tucked them in their rock-hard beds
like every other day
and wrote her family a simple note
with what she needed to say.

"I have not lived a virtuous life,
I cannot tell a lie.
I want to say I'm sorry, that
I love you, and goodbye."

She took the knife upon the shelf
and without a second glance
slit her throat and fell to the ground
in her final gypsy's dance.