Lovely ladies happen by
Shouting life is not to cry.
Lovely ladies please don’t lie
You too will someday die.
Seductive toys your legs and breasts
Life has never known a better pest.
Thoughts of Troy from brains still swarm
And still your nest is cozy and warm.
Lovely ladies, what can I say
While scheming eyes do still me sway?
Go away! To think I must
And life is more than lust.
Eyes that should on Tolstoy rest
Or Blake, or Marx, or a Freudian text.
Eyes that should filter bright science light
Do still prefer your naked breast.
Must you stand there so?
Your tasty body causes me woe.
Shall I ever of looks be free
Which burn my books and barter me?
Do whispers of thought lie under that skin
So slippery white and carelessly thin?
Beats there a heart of innocence bought
That would spill from its shell
If but chisel sought?
Lovely ladies happen by,
Come and go, sin and sigh.
Lovely ladies, let there be
A me of you
A you of me.
James K. Richardson