Behind the Shroud

[Leanne]

Beyond sanitary walls of reason,
blind musicians walk around the square,
mourning loss of one more concert season.
Somber merchants pass them by and stare,

savory displays upon each cart;
games of chance they shamelessly promote
while brokers sit and ply their paltry art,
reciting verses which their children wrote.

Misanthropic Muse once more has spoken,
extending credit for each partial song.
Into the hat, she drops a golden token--
though she knows the tempo sounded wrong.

She hides her face but smiles behind the shroud
then weaves and disappears into the crowd.

You mix trochaic and iambic pentameter in this and it took me a couple of run-throughs to get the meter fixed in my head, but once it was there it worked just fine. The variations are really interesting, especially with the self-aware "though she knows the tempo sounded wrong". The couplet is the only part that's perfectly iambic, which seems quite appropriate to me since that's the Muse's departure.

I think "reciting verses that their children wrote" would be better, but that's my only pick really. It's a great read, Sid.