People are just people
They get in their own way,
Eyes glamoured by white veneers and crafted laughter.
It used to be fun, once,
When everything was fresh and new,
Every party available each weekend,
A dazzling series of buffet options
To entice and delight, distract and entertain
A carousel of gilded faces in fancy dress
With silver tongues to tinkle out clever apologies
Of forgotten invitations and inquiries
Each one a small part, piercing tears in the fabric of reality
Till you realize it wasn’t, not really,
The gilding has chipped off, the sequins frayed and flagging
And you wonder at the veneers…
How you didn’t see the tell-tale nip
At the corner of their upturned mouths
Eyes that never really smiled, when they revealed their pearly sets
No, things seem clearer somehow,
As the dawn light pierces through shoddy curtains
And the bright laughter that once tinkled sweetly now sounds hollow echoes
At the remains of your friends
The silver tongues now tarnished with plaque
The feast all spoiled from a party that has lasted too long
Friends faces now worn as thin as the clever anecdotes they’ve told
One too many times
The hallway carpet worn bare like their same old quibbles, familiarly retread
As the party draws on,
The chorus of voices rises, becomes cacophony,
The shrilling to outcompete
For the most banal and mediocre of interpretation
Puddles masquerading as oceans
Whisps of insight as insubstantial
As the pale glazed eyes that see all
And nothing past the wool stuffing of their lids
Cold glass that glints blue and empty,
Cotton fluff peeking out of their ears
The padding for their cushioned thoughts and lofty ideas—
Though if a match be placed near
The fire would blaze and fizzle out
No more kindling to feed from their empty bowls
The richly coloured tapestry is in shreds now
The holes let rays of truth pierce the scene
Just cotton stuffing and glass eyes
From the most peculiar mannequins
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