Geldings, eunuchs, capons, nature’s rejects:
So they were scorned by the very public
Which thundered,wept , and cheered for more,
“Evivva il coltellino!” quaking the opera house.
Most sang not for kings and cardinals,
But to please some sweaty lecherous parish priest;
Busked for pennies in the streets,
Turned to prostitution to get by,
Ended, all too often, in suicide.
Taken like animals in the trap,
Doctored and flogged into beauty,
They served both splendour and cruelty,
Vestals of a cold bewitching flame.
To be the greatest of the divas,more magnificent
Than any mere female! Incomparable virtuosity
Had been beaten into their skins,
Outsoaring and outstranging all.
Philistine time soon rendered them pariahs,
Huge round-bodied effeminate freaks,
More shunned than loved, till the finale,
One last impossible note, no curtain calls.
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