Marriage Proposal

The cheese bread had arrived,
as long as the table,
'in crocodile shape'
- according to Mehmet
owner of the Happy House
Restaurant and Carpet Store.

We fell on it, pale crows,
as the Anatolians looked on,
their faces blank as policemen’s.

The belly dancer had changed
her clothes and sat down
‘in occidental style’
as she chose to put it.
Thigh close to mine and
Leaning over for some bread

with her left hand on my
knee. Where I left it lying
while the rakis burned my conscience.

Her name was not Angel
as she told me - rather
something more beautiful
in the alien tongue
filled with shushing noises
and pretty closed-mouth vowels.

She said she would be
a second wife although
I never wore a wedding ring.