Arranged Marriages/Sarah Tews

Dance cards dangle from delicate wrists
Fans flit through cigar-hazed air 
Young women curtsy as their hands are kissed 
Weaving the beginnings of illicit affairs 
  
Poor girls are blind, thinking love will start  
They dance and smile, knowing all except 
The games that men play in the dark
In corners far off, with promises unkept 
 
Because rich old men seldom see girls for love 
Female virtue is a reward, their riches are his treasure;
Their affection is a meaningless gift to be brushed 
To the side in favor of his own pleasure 
 
And if some girls are lucky, they escape 
With someone young: they catch the eye 
Of a handsome duke, his lapels draped 
With regalia that only riches can buy 
 
And they find themselves giddy, never seeing how 
Perhaps they’ll be rich and esteemed, but never happy
As they’ll only receive what their husbands allow, 
And an arranged marriage will be not a start but a finale 
 
To a life that could have been lived to the fullest
As a warrior unchecked by a man, avoiding the bullet 
Of marriage —
 
Yet the social season still dizzies the air,
Giddy smiles cross the room, 
Innocent women giggle, searching to pair
Up with devils, waltzing a dangerous dance with doom. 

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