behind masks

by Roberto Lavidez

it was raining torrents

outside the hotbed

of secret societies 

a play of cries

and whispers

and chattering 

crippled by the

bondage of speech

messages of encrypted

text retrieved from

round the necks

of dead birds

cruelly hanged

on piano wire

castigating the

hypocrisy of

bourgeois morality

behind masks

of the real world

truth may never

be known

church bells rung

bonfires lit

psalms sung in

thanksgiving panacea

for all ills

misery

class conflict

and alienation

Marxists

running around

like chickens

without heads

fascinated with

stockpiling of

nuclear weapons

playing a dangerous

cat-and-mouse game

regenerating dramas

of the human psyche

the tragic unlikelihood

of peaceful coexistence

persistence of

the old order

behind masks of

death

magic

and the supernatural

truth may never

be known

wars were

to be won

by a display of

brutal strength alone

quick to detect the

scent of vulnerability

outside the gates of

concentration camps

where terror is

dragged by the hair

back into darkness

abandoning the

quest of Prometheus

chained to a rock

for eternity

agonizing

behind masks

©robertolavidez2013