Ma Belle Isabelle

by Amita Jadhav
(Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India)

Ma Belle Isabelle
Danced all night for me
Tulip red lips
Blew kisses in the musk-laden air,
Ivory white hands
Tangled through black wind-tossed hair,
Pink flushed cheeks
Dimpled invitingly in a pair,
Black whirlpool eyes
Drowned me in their unblinking stare.

It was love at first sight
For I was young and ready for love,
Life with a seductress
Seemed such a heady dare,
How was I to know?
That it was doomed to be
Just a one-sided affair.
It took a while for my scars to heal
When I learned that Isabelle danced
For rich strangers every night.