, thewayweconnect !
PARENT lo! 'tis a gala night Within the lonesome latter years! An angel !
SISTER throng, bewinged, bedight In veils, and drowned in tears, Sit in a !
BROTHER theatre, to see A play of hopes and fears, While the orchestra !
COUSIN breathes fitfully The music of the spheres. Mimes, in the form of !
FAMILY-SPECIFY God on high, Mutter and mumble low, And hither and thither fly !
MUTUALRESPECT -- Mere puppets they, who come and go At bidding of vast !
YOURESPECT--- formless things That shift the scenery to and fro, Flapping from !
---RESPECTSYOU out their Condor wings Invisible Wo! That motley drama! --oh, !
YOUADMIRE--- be sure It shall not be forgot! With its Phantom chased forever !
---ADMIRESYOU more, By a crowd that seize it not, Through a circle that ever !
YOUSCARE--- returneth in To the self-same spot, And much of Madness and !
---SCARESYOU more of Sin And Horror the soul of the plot But see, amid the !
GOODINFLUENCE mimic rout, A crawling shape intrude! A blood-red thing that !
BADINFLUENCE writhes from out The scenic solitude! It writhes! --it writhes! – !
PROTECTIVEOVER--- with mortal pangs The mimes become its food, And the seraphs !
PROTECTIVEOVERYOU sob at vermin fangs In human gore imbued. Out --out are the !
HERO lights --out all! And over each quivering form, The curtain, a !
OBSESSION funeral pall, Comes down with the rush of a storm, And the !
STALKER angels, all pallid and wan, Uprising, unveiling, affirm That the !
OTHER-SPECIFY play is the tragedy, "Man," And its hero the Conqueror Worm !