To Thine Own Self Be True
TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE
Big honest eyes
Different to the others.
Soft, shy, gentle nature:
A sunlit rose among weeds,
A new dress of blue and green.
Now in a claustrophobic mask
In the darkened room of a tent,
Clown performing circus tricks
Falsely funny for a coarse audience,
Speech choked by noise, afraid to speak,
Appears familiar to all but
Who really knows her?
Ugly duckling not yet a flying swan.
Jelly the Clown
Eager to please the audience,
An invented person to be liked:
Exploitation is invited -
Throw a pie at her -
Jelly is loved. Angela is unknown.
A thousand eyes give no real love.
Jelly inside aches to return
To a weedless rose garden
It was a new dress once.
But dirty ragged cloth is unwanted
In a room of perfection.
An outsider which does not belong.
Scream abuse at it -
A Cinderella cloth to be bullied -
It has rips and stains,
Its real worth is shadowed,
Its real nature is perverted.
Use it and throw it aside after.
The performance nears its end.
Raising a ragged flag of distress,
Big eyes penetrate a silent listener
In the dark back row
Beckoning to Angela.
And two voiceless soulmates
Return to the roses.
Copyright © Sidney Beck | Year Posted 2010
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