Man's Follies

The mask as a disguise, to amuse to terrify to dodge From the beginning of time in rituals and ceremonies Intimidating, punishing, shaming, exorcising, protecting From disease with pointed beak in an aromatic camouflage Time does not alter man’s rituals of compulsive assimilation The fascination angst and agitation of the unsolved mystery Relentless since time began knowledge of deaths certainty Again we sneer in sweet scented carnival celebrations Youth laughs and dances daring the winds to strike While we so much older know how cruel life can be Even as we gaze dreamlike at the stars and the seas