Shadow Magic - Poem by Robert J. Tiess

Shadow
old illusionist
draws its blanket expertly
over mostly cherished things

then
brandishing one wicked wand
murmurs incantations quaint

steps back

reveals vanishing
to the horrors of the crowd.

But other acts await their turn
behind the scarlet curtain frayed
where more deceptions yet displayed
anticipate the greenest eyes.

So all magicians leave the stage
and must restore the disappeared
would they wish to be revered.

Thus, cunning antics meet their end
with much flourish to amend,
and by the tapping of a stick
the conjurer completes the trick.

An audience applauds the fair
as valuables arise from air.

Sought orders lost return at last
and all dramatic trances cast
relinquish every breath withheld
while the magic we beheld
(obscuring beauty neath its shell)
no longer binds us in its spell.