CHIPS AND LAUGHTER

The knife
is pulled out of the back.

The poison is spat out
& the dead come back

they stand
before us

joyful
& our joy joins theirs

like waves
that crash

upon the sands
of our senses

& Time turns back
to the ordinary moment.

We stand
& clap.

These our actors
(which we see before us)  
take their bow

soak up
the applause

& dash behind
the safety of the curtain

that has come down
between their world & ours.

We enter into
the coldness of the night

our breaths
like spirits

speaking for us

the actors' dreams
still clutched like flowers

in our hands

& wander on

drawn now
to the lovely laughter

of our Hamlet
eating chips

with Ophelia
& her friends.

And so, our play
ends.