Julian Swales - Extravagance lyrics

Who dares walk her cheetahs on the dark can*ls of Venice? Diamond leashes glitter, servant flames splutter Emaciated spectre with kohl tattooed eyes Albino birds painted shades of blackened violet Luisa leash me up like a leopard, to your heart Black though it be, let's toast your effigy Dress you in silver mail fit for the Queens They cannot touch you now, they cannot do you harm You are the shadow, that pale light That draws us fluttering to your Extravagance We stare at the rubies that shine in our hearts They're all you could wish for, they're all I could want Pink peaco*ks howling as we waltz through the night They screech of crazed parties, canopies of fright Luisa in Paris, Luisa by the lake Sitting still in veils, painted by the greats Even electricity bows down to her Until it catches flame, and all the money escapes You remain a shadow, that pale light That draws us flickering to your Extravagance Debt-ridden in London, she's dressed in dead birds Abandoned by her poet, denounced by the world But once a creature exotic, she cannot be forgotten So bury her naked, but don't bury her nameless Wrap her in panther skin, her Pekinese beside Shakespearean elegy, Shakespearean lines In and out of fashion, in d**h no less intense She cannot wither now, she cannot fade from sight She is but shadow, that feint light That draws us shivering to her Extravagance