Trompe l'Oeil

Trompe l'Oeil
(for my brother on Ancestor Night)

I saw your dancing ghost tonight
Among the swirling crowd
And the jumble of street revelers
Beneath the pulse of colored light:
A glimpse of gilded hair
Shaken off a steaming brow,
A deep spark of jade
Flashed from eyes that met mine
For an instant
And a gleam of smile
For a moment
At the Masquerade.

And I, disguised,
A shambling leper zombie
Propelled myself forward on sticks,
Pressing for a clearer sight
Before the crowd could shift
And you'd be lost again.

Lurching toward you
A foot or two stripped away the charm:
The paint so artfully applied
To shade away twenty years;
The bronzing over slack white arms;
The boots to change the height –
All conspired to fool my eye
With a cunning trick of the light.
Not you, then, no,
Nor ever is,
Nor ever will be again.

And I, disguised,
A weeping jester zombie –
Laughing fit to die
At the ways of the heart
When it tricks the eye –
Propelled myself away on sticks
Down the Promenade.

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c. 2002 Todd Eliot