'The Reverie Apparatus'

The great machine
That makes this world turn so
Built of shape-shifting beings
An impossible engine
Changing so many times in a day
Unrecognizable from one moment to the next

It is made of dirt, of earth, of soil
Motionless, life moves about it
Secure in the fact that it will never change
The simplest form
Remains the same
Unrecognizable from one moment to the next

These are the lies we tell
These are the truths we hide
These are the dreams we remember
These are the realities we forget

Step behind the curtain a moment
Here they change their costumes
To one day throw away
Here they paint expression
To wipe from them, blank faces
Here they practice the lines they'll speak
To stumble when it means the most

At no point do they turn to the audience for praise
Nor smile and wink to the camera
Laugh it off
It's not a joke
Because the moment's passed
And it goes ever on

This is the truth
This is the dream
A point of view
A lost hope
All scattered images
In a sea of shadows

***

if it's worth telling
and if it's told well
it will last
it will grow
and its shape will shift
become something anew
to each that tell it
to each that it's told to

heroes fall
become villains
redeem themselves
and fall again for good
now watch them rise
now we rejoice
so we begin the dance anew

the machine makes another revolution
its shape contorts
as the engine shifts gear
the impossible becomes possible
the form intangible
and some of them
become the dust, the earth, the soil
they live on
beyond what they were before
and the others
a wisp of smoke
lost on the breeze
that we'd never know were there

it is the harsh logic of the machine
to judge what life be worth remembering
what soul worth being separate
or become a part of it.




"What makes the engine go? Desire, desire, desire"
- Stanley Kunitz