The Oyster and the Pearl

Talking of the avalanche will surely bring it down
Like a cloak of night descending over winter's glittering gown
And around the mountain crevices we see the specters whirl
Trying to break the embrace of the Oyster and the Pearl

Out there in the storm where the cracking thunder peals
The flashlight finds the darkness in the doorway and reveals
A half-frozen hourglass that once has been a girl
The casual acquaintance of the Oyster and the Pearl

When the history committee meets to draft its treasury
Of fables upon which we all have chosen to agree
Anaesthetized by order of the platitudes they hurl
They'll mean absolutely nothing to the Oyster and the Pearl

The joker will be angry in the debris of the pack
The scientist and his wildcard will be shuffled to the back
They'll reduce his double helix to a sagging crinkled curl
Nobody gets the picture, but the Oyster and the Pearl

And who is being compromised in every kind of way?
Whose noble reputation has all but drained away?
And who has been deserted for another working girl
The innocent, the guilty, or the Oyster and the Pearl?

Stood by their Bugatti on the blistered, burning feet
They are shoeless in the desert, they're drowning in the heat
And a Campari parasol begins to unfurl
It never throws a shadow on the Oyster and the Pearl