Jazz Poems

LUSH LIFE

I used to visit all   the very gay places,

Those come-what-may places,

Where one relaxes on the axis of the wheel of life

To get the feel of life

From jazz and cocktails.

The girls i knew had sad and sullen gray faces,

With distingué traces

That used to be there.

You could see where

They’d been washed away

By too many through the day

Twelve o’clock tails.

Then you came along

With your siren song

To tempt me to madness.

I thought for a while

That your poignant smile

Was tinged with the sadness

Of a great love for me.

Ah, yes, I was wrong,

Again, I was wrong!

Life is lonely again,

And only last year

Ev’rything seemed so sure.

Now life is awful again,

A troughful of hearts could only be a bore.

A week in Paris will ease the bite of it.

All I care is to smile in spite of it.

I’ll forget you, I will,

While yet you are still

Burning inside my brain.

Romance is mush, stifling those who strive.

I’ll live a lush life in some small dive,

>And there I’ll be, while I rot with the rest

Of those whose lives are lonely too.

BILLY STRAYHORN

from Jazz Poems ~ Selected and Edited by Kevin Young

More Posts: book,classic,collectible,history,jazz,library,poet