The Snake-charmer’s Reed I
(Inspired by Henri Rousseau’s “The Snake Charmer”, Oil, 1911.)
Under the lush eerie greens
a snake wriggles
with a weakness for dance
as Adam wheedles and sways
in a tangle of wild
playing his ambiguous charm
His notes flicker as moonlight
lures the ingenuous snakes
to waltz his scaly spell
from a glossy stream
to his snake-dom swindle
where fingers writhe along
in a charmer’s reedy song
since his first red bite of doubt
(Published in TOWER POETRY, Vol.66, No. 2, 2018.)