Special Cocktail Ball – An Invitation

L’Hotel de Silhouette. Would you attend?
Even with this invitation, would you go?
Dates and times are only for the select.
Shimmy, foxtrot, tango, swing cranked
out of the over-sized gramophone horn.
Sweet peril has been poured into fruit
punch (it’s more dangerous than un-
hinged Guatemalan tequila. Young men
in tuxedos hair as glossy as liquorice; girls
slinky in flapper frocks, chic lines undisturbed
by foundation garments; their patter
enhanced with mascara flutters. They
are much in demand for the press
and heat of slower songs.

You’re not too sad to dance are you?
Sugary laughter and risqué stories, rise
like the smoke from Passing Clouds
and Black Sobranies. Until all innuendo
and double entendre dissolves into insouciance
and dawn. Would you leave before all trace
of conviviality has disappeared? When you
might notice the monumental mirrors reflect
only the deserted ballroom. Will you anticipate
the next Ball, which is, as yet, unscheduled
when all will be replayed just as before.

Would you accept the invitation
     if offered?