Black-Haired Girls

The black-haired girls are graceful, like gazelles,

Their haughty stares would strike a ‘lao wai’ blind,

As they cruise on through streets, where rubbish spills,

Ignoring all, the poverty, the slime.

 

In knee high boots and skirts that lift the thigh,

In leathers, black, and frills and pretty lace,

They swing their hips so slowly, to invite

The dreams of men, who marvel at each face.

 

The teeth so white and straight, the lips that curl

In condescending fashion at each gaze,

The one brow arched, as if to look on down

From some great height they fashion from each frown.

 

If Gods and Godesses have ever walked

This petty planet’s poor and pitted earth,

Those Gods have gone, the Godesses remain,

To haunt old men, who worship at their shrine.

 

David Lewis Paget