The Last Performance

Perhaps the curtains will rise
for the last time tonight,
and the void of your drowsy dawn
will be me.
I will don the myriad shades
of a scripted life,
and on the jovial stage,
in the arclight haze,
I will flash plastic smiles
to tunes that were never my own.

When the empty proscenium
reeks of phantom songs,
I have walked the deserted aisles in white satin,
looking for the poet who died,
in a freak accident,
maybe in another space or time.
I found his diary last night...

But tonight (for the hundredth night)
I'll dance my candyfloss steps,
light ballerina feet will defeat
my purpose to live or die.
To want to fly.
Perhaps they sheared off the wings
I had, in another incarnation.

Don't paint me another facade,
write me another role.
I'll take my poison
in small doses,
licking around my lips.
I'll grow spurious leaves
from the pupils of my eyes,
the million eyes
that sprawl on my skin.
And maybe for the last time,
I'll die.

Perhaps the curtains will rise
for the last time tonight,
and the void of your drowsy dawn
will be me.
Silent dreamer, would you then
play me a song
of yellow and green,
of green and red,
red and violet,
with your magic breath?
And maybe,
as the thundering applause fades,
we will find a new sky.