Salome's Dance

On his birthday, Herod gave a banquet for his court,
to which his wife Herodias was not invited.
There Salome, her daughter by Herod's brother,
danced so boldly and so well that Herod
said he would grant whatever she wished.

Salome left the hall and went to her mother to ask
what she should request, and her mother said
“Ask for the head of John the Baptist,” who had
told Herod that he should not marry his brother's wife.
The daughter returned and said that she wanted

the head of John the Baptist on a platter, adding
the latter touch of finery, or propriety, for reasons
all her own, unknown.  Herod complied with sorrow;
he hadn't meant to murder the man, just to keep him
in prison where he could not work his magic.

And so a soldier beheaded the Baptist.
Such is the power of the dance
of young women upon old men.
What a king would not do for his wife, he would
do for her whirling daughter by his own brother.