The Harlots House by Oscar Wilde
b'Wilde read by Classic Poetry Aloud:\\nhttp://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/\\n\\nGiving voice to classic poetry.\\n\\n---------------------------------------------------\\n\\n The Harlot\\u2019s House\\n\\nby Oscar Wilde (1854 \\u2013 1900)\\n\\nWe caught the tread of dancing feet,\\nWe loitered down the moonlit street,\\nAnd stopped beneath the harlot\'s house.\\n\\nInside, above the din and fray,\\nWe heard the loud musicians play\\nThe "Treues Liebes Herz" of Strauss.\\n\\nLike strange mechanical grotesques,\\nMaking fantastic arabesques,\\nThe shadows raced across the blind.\\n\\nWe watched the ghostly dancers spin\\nTo sound of horn and violin,\\nLike black leaves wheeling in the wind.\\n\\nLike wire-pulled automatons,\\nSlim silhouetted skeletons\\nWent sidling through the slow quadrille.\\n\\nThey took each other by the hand,\\nAnd danced a stately saraband;\\nTheir laughter echoed thin and shrill.\\n\\nSometimes a clockwork puppet pressed\\nA phantom lover to her breast,\\nSometimes they seemed to try to sing.'