The mirror on the wall

Yields no reflection of you

Only a mere facsimile

A shadow of a former version

 

From across the ballroom

You bear a slight resemblance

To someone I thought I knew

But as I move closer

I see you’re now a much different hue

 

You take my hand and lead me to the floor

We play our usual parts in this masquerade

You take the lead and I follow

One wrong move upsets our delicate balance

 

Moving in unison

In your dance of carefully choreographed steps

You speak but say nothing

While I desperately search for words

But it seems I have all but run out

Rendered mute by one too many ill-timed lapses

 

When the orchestra plays its last note

And the crowd begins to dwindle

We’re the only ones left on the floor

Our waltz terminating with cordial bow and curtsey

In separate directions we part

Stuck between being unable to move forward

And unable to go back in time

 

Out of habit we play our usual roles

You the jester, me the fool

When the clock strikes twelve

You remove your mask

A clever disguise of secrets, lies and half-truths

The masquerade ends and we bid adieu

Until the same time tomorrow

When we’ll repeat the cycle again

 

I may have lost you tonight

Or I may have lost you long ago

All I know for certain is that

I may never have found you

 

Copyright 2016-5-18 – L.M. Giannone