When the Thief of Voices Came to Town
the Singers Union
raised a paltry ransom
enough to get their members
through the Christmas holiday
(their busiest season)
the City Council voted him
a tax break and with muffled fanfare
renamed the historic Main Street
Thief of Voices Boulevard
a local TV talk show host
departed from his monologue to ask
the Thief to be his sidekick
a joke
nevertheless
the next day he was stricken dumb
(the doctors professed
mystification)
and before the next show
shot his brains out in the green room
not long after the Singers Union
failed to scape together
a second bribe
and at New Years
bravely eked out Auld Lang Syne
squeaking like mice in flight
from the farmer’s wife
then the City Council
ran out of historic streets
in any case couldn’t keep suffering
the complaints of constituents
and resigned en masse
only here and there
a pair of lovers
despairing over the nothings
they used to whisper
so sweetly
relearned the wordless
winks and glances
that in the beginning
had served them so well
an untouchable intercourse
that enraged the Thief of Voices
he escaped downriver
to another town
and at the outskirts paused
his face touched with introspection
but
(as we might expect
from such a tale)
in the end he entered it
entered with a jaunty stride
a melodious shrill whistle on his lips
like a savage canary