Skylight, pale light
rains softly on the red silk roses
and the complicated chandeliers,
the turquoise-blue mosaic
and the pale mural where
a pale, veiled woman sits beneath a vine.
This is pretend Morocco, theme-park
Morocco, but gentle and understated,
in the best of taste, like the food
that alludes politely to north Africa –
merguez and hummus and mint tea
on an old brass tray that glints and rocks,
harissa careful to be not
too hot.