Quid Pro Quo Poem by Michael Round

They go out there,
Well aware
Those old men.
Reputations, now retired,
But there is still a dare.
And husbands, spent and spare,
Of them all, boys, beware.
For they are the Quid
Of the Quid Pro Quo.

And the young men
Coming by
To sit and stare and smile,
Youth and beauty to beguile.
And some even glare
Offering rougher trade,
Yearning the hungry return stare.
For they are the Pro
Of the Quid Pro Quo.

(Note: quid pro quo in Latin: this for that;
in England ‘quid' is slang for a the English Pound;
‘pro' is a slang shorthand for prostitute.)