My Last Masquerade

I drank my last poison today in the restaurant
To the sound of a watered down piano and a cheap debutante
I could see Dylan Thomas in the cigar smoke wafting in the air
He frowned at me and said, “don’t ever tip the concierge…”

The red velvet couch is no consolation and the accolades
An out of tune orchestra playing Mozart behind your palisades
Your masque can’t hide the blush under your fancy sequin
It’s just expensive perfume on a corner store mannequin

The fields are barren and the sunset bleeds Poe
Ravens tell me secrets and rabbits stare at me from holes
Your Illusions of grandeur never looked better Captain Ahab
Now only ghosts serenade across the deck to the tune of Amadeus

Did you get your whale did you conquer the world?
Or was it just another Octavius your mysterious sequel?
Children stare blankly into the sun meandering it’s so surreal
Your ideologies lies shipwreck and all your promises puerile

I run resolute now through the snow a requiem of my dreams
I stop at a tombstone to read, “I have miles to go before I sleep…”
A thousand voices from my Octavia; betrayed but now apprised
The frost is bitter and the stars are dark but I've never felt so alive.

Chad Taylor © 2011