Unmasked

Opening curtain:         How like footlights,                     her angelic poise           a forestage illumine               to upcoming creation           in hushed reverence                    an audience awaits Scene One:           a gathering of words                               characters cast                         upon parchment stage                       birthed in the man-made milieu                           of concrete canyons                       winding    through neon jungles           standing ready           to execute its           byplay of consequence                   as her voice echoes                   thin lines of reason           in half-timbered halls                 Scene Two:           songs of spoken verse               mime           in the mouths of followers           as she hails her flock               in gilded tongues                      halo  hidden beneath humility               wings   folded in recognition                    role    predestined               performance  preordained                                             unavowed   in certainty Final Curtain:           she lingers    downstage                 and cedes to her labor           soul bared      and broadcasts                     a warm shimmering shower                     of expression           to blanket listeners in worship           a consummate artiste               conveying the           coup de theatre    of truth           to voluble sounds of             gloved hearts clapping                   in absolute adoration Epilogue:           she stands before us           in written submission           unwrapped    unfeigned                              authentic               in all her complex simplicity           it is within the stagecraft           of dialogue           that she presents herself to us           naked                 exposed           in unselfish bounty                         the face of a poet                                         ....revealed ~