Italian Serenade

Italian Serenade

Tipsy,hiccupping accordians,
zip up and down musical heights.
Vendors from their pushcarts,
hawk pistachio-filled delights.

Young women in flirty dress,
wear heels that tap staccato beats
Men notice them from viewpoints,
they have from in their bistro seats.

Tomato and basil tempts us,
to come and visit a busy fella.
Spinning dough high in mid-air
to the pace of a tarantella.

Bells toll within churches of stone,
scattering pidgeons everywhere,
Bakers make biscotti and pannetone,
the yeasty fragrance fills the square.

Red geraniums in window boxes,
release their pungent perfume.
Shop owners now less busy,
clean their doorways with a broom.

Fountains gurgle pleasantly,
in the cooling afternoon,
Men arriving home from work,
romance their wives and croon.

In the evening from a balcony,
hidden in the nighttime shade,
Two lovers embrace and dance
to moonlight's Italian Serenade.


by: Kimarie Manhart-Freeman