Storahtelling

THE DAY AFTER PURIM

Poem by Zoot the Muppet
indiaextravaganza@gmail.com

The Day After Purim

What? I am supposed to go back
to being who I was the day before yesterday?

The circus fired the clown. They said,
Take off your mask - give it back to us.

He said, what do you mean?
There is no going back like that.

You can have it, take it - but I remain.
You will not see me anymore - but I’m still here.

I look from in - the mask is irrelevant.
You look at out - the mask is everything.

Maybe there is something between these -
a deeper envisioning.

The piano-man moves his hands beyond the keys,
this way and that - there is music there!

He hears it - even if you don’t.

A teardrop runs across your face
and reveals the world.

The clown’s colleagues ask him what he’ll do,
now that his clowning-around has been terminated.

He says, first I’ll go completely crazy,
I’ll be a rooster in the coop of the king.

I’ll wake the other roosters at strange hours of the night,
and lay scarlet eggs filled with rubies.

And then, I’ll become the prince.

I’ll convince the people I’ve gone straight.
I will tell them I’m wise, and I’ll offer them wisdom

and it will be entirely nonsense.

Blessed is the one who remembers the face.
Blessed is the one who continues to wear the mask.