Selecting One's Reprieve Poem by Sharon Peeples

The old familiar parts were played on stage.
A captive group there stilled beneath the page.
With song and dance those resin smiles to share,
Gave ambiance of grace upon the stairs.
Each pirouette of words on gilded lips,
Wound tighter still...deception's face eclipsed.

Some melodramas far outran their stay,
As time perceived a comedy to play.
Rehearsals in full dress became the norm,
Providing shadowed images and form.
Forgetting where reality began,
The play ran 'bout full circle in the sand.

Through many years the lines were memorized,
To seal in dark illusion each script's lies.
Becoming other voices...minds in art,
Selecting one's reprieve by playing parts.
So careful there to hide the self enclosed,
And whereupon....the final curtain closed.