The Ruba'Iyat of Creteil Lake - Part Seventeen

The Ruba’iyat of Créteil Lake – Part Seventeen Of late the tepid cold only rebousse poil her coyness Nowhere the slushy mud caked into strands of crunchiness Even the over-mothering coots let their chicks roam all alone Sand and soil slop in swishing puddles down her tress fullness Darkness bloomed along her gamboling Riviera façade Window-panes like so many cryptic poker-face cards invade While amber-lit promenades reflect once debutante gaiety Now swans sail in wanton jerks into the late evening jade Cocky sea-gulls from far-off cascades spurn the land-locked lake Screech and caw like white-crows and bully bread crumbs from swan beak All over her borderless skirts droop stems and stalks fading downcast And the froth and foam gather at the Prefecture’s northern gate Was she ailing in the meniscus all summer to icy spring? The promenade of choice girding the Prefecture like a sling Stayed slammed and riveted with the gate gutter over-flowing Some said ‘twas the asylum seekers broke into the building To rob official stamps and cartes de sejour to gain false entry Others less scrupulous thought Omar the culprit roaming free Said some the Procureur made out a writ for his instant capture - Abetted, said they, by the Resident Maid – our Bard sans country! © T. Wignesan – Paris, 2014