Salome's Dance

You have watched me dance
a thousand times
my skirt twirling
like the sleek serpent
lost in your garden.
I watch your eyes
suck the light
from the candles
every time I move,
your fingers keeping time
with the coins
that dress my hips
and I know you are a master
of making dreams
come true.

Tonight I dance
just for you
and through half-closed eyes
I watch you push me
against the cushions
where my hair
pleads with your bare chest
and I bear your love
on my wrists and ankles,
each thrust false witness
on my mother's lips.


Oh, you know
this will cost more
than the gold
in your coffers
or all the spices
in Araby
and your slave girls
will talk for months
but cruelty
only warms your legend
in their eyes.
Your hands have offered
any price for grace
but all I ask

is that
you bring me his head.