Paul Shapera
The Rhumba Club
Cora:
Each night the lights go down, the rhythm pounds, and out here in the crowd, the jungle howls
Some hunt and others scheme, some things grin like sin and some things look so pure with knives for teeth
As they laugh, masks will slip for seconds falling
Deadly games will be resolving
For you see, to seem is not to be

...

Each night the rhumba growls and in the masks, beneath the masks, my people stalk and prowl
There's games inside of games, roles and parts portrayed like Russian dolls that always twist and change
My sweet spies, eyes that always are deceiving, masks in masks forever scheming
For you see, to seem is not to be

...

To our business let us turn, my pawn is compromised and yet for her it seems you yearn
Where she is you seek, and information is my currency, the air I breathe
So for me, there’s a thing you must acquire
And I'll tell what you desire
Though you'll see to seem is not to be