\input setup
\style{poems}
\def\*{\unskip\hfil*\qquad*\qquad*}
\num{13}
\what{Villanelle-based Free Verse}
\title{Exit, Stage Left (II)}

The pulse of the music throbs in my lungs --- {\sl Once more
{\it Gondolieri}, both skillful and wary.}  This world is
Ending.  I smile through my makeup when I remember
That I'm supposed to.  None of this is real.

Paint metamorphs burlap into red silk, blue sky, 
Grey stone.  Kisses are directed, love scripted.
After tonight's happy ending, it will all go back into storage.

She has spent the summer behind his back, eating
Me alive, my honor just
Another sweet morsel, leaving me
The bitter almonds of a bloodied soul,
Addicted to their cyanic taste.  Finally I retch
And spit her out, leaving her,
Returning her to him --- {\sl Free from this quandary,
Contented are we.}

He will never know.

Behind me hangs a battered cloth sky, limp,
Torn open as the offended heavens.
I am as broken as its illusion,
Concrete wall showing through my smile.
Neither of us will work the stage again.

A final cadence settles from the pit.
The chorus forms a line --- {\sl We dance
A farewell to that measure,} and I dance
Mine to them.  For the first
Time, I have nothing
To do for two weeks.  If I exit now, no
One will know.  The cyanide can pass
My lips so easily with the words
Of the final curtain call ---

{\sl We leave you with feelings of pleasure, with feelings 
Of pleasure!}
\bye
