Puppets

Scaramouche and Pulcinella,

brought together by some evil scheme

gesticulate, black beneath the moon.

Meanwhile, the learned doctor

from Bologna slowly gathers

medicinal herbs in the brown grass.

Then his sassy-faced daughter

sneaks underneath the arbor

half-naked, in quest

Of her handsome Spanish pirate,

whose distress a languorous nightingale

deafeningly proclaims.