Sarah V. Schweig
Bacchanal of the Mask
Behold the ancient registers of Al-a-Kazaam!
The woman whose face is a mask leads the crowd in chanting.
The musical notes and melodies have never before been heard
this side of the world!
But those citizens who live in the towers lining the public squares
are less embracing of difference than those comprising the crowds.
They lean out their French doors swung open in their gowns.
They issue forth SHHH ... SHHH ... and are not heard.
And yet the Doctrine of the Mask says that we must embrace even them.
And yet the Doctrine of the Mask also says we must cast out those who
will hamper the high unholy mission of the mask.
Behold the ancient registers of Al-a-Kazaam! (Who am I to question them?)
I too neglect the needs of those I love most.
I live for myself, like the undulating oneness of the crowd.
We are thrown upon the earth and plucked off, never heard,
never heard of. This is the reason for the chanting.
