Cosmetic

“Woman is quite within her rights, indeed she is even accomplishing a kind of duty, when she devotes herself to appearing magical and supernatural; she has to astonish and charm us; as an idol, she is obliged to adorn herself in order to be adored.” – Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867). 
 
Vaudeville koan 
Mendicant song 
Nothing embellishes 
All, all along. 

The red and the black 
Supernatural life 
Framed in a coal-barb 
Abyss looking back 
 
Fire on the cheek-bone 
Priestess’s flame 
Kindles the gleam 
Inferno of eye 
 
burning burning burning 
as hellish fire 
of distant stars