Man Without A Face

Man Without A Face
© Surazeus
2024 10 24

Strange story of the man without a face 
makes me laugh when I read it in the news, 
but, as I stroll the busy city street 
while performing in the play of my dream, 
I realize with surprise I am that man, 
so I search everywhere for mask to wear. 

Pushing open the locked cathedral door, 
that creaks with ancient sorrow of the heart, 
I ask the dead god hanging on the cross 
if I can borrow his face for one life, 
but he laughs and flies away in the sky, 
so I write my name with blood in the book. 

Climbing winding stairs to top of the tower 
that shines on high hill of democracy, 
I ask Rapunzel how to make a face, 
so she covers my soul with river mud 
and molds it into Dionysian mask 
which crumbles in the lightning storm of faith. 

Dancing wild in Stonehenge on Avalon, 
I ask Melusine, thirteenth Fairy Queen, 
if she has any old face I could wear, 
so she gives me gold mask of Agamemnon 
that he dropped during sack of Ilium, 
so I wear it while walking on the water. 

Entering ancient gallery of dead gods, 
I take mask of Apollon from the wall 
and wear it on brightly-lit concert stage 
where thousands of tripping revelers cheer 
while I twang tunes on electric guitar 
and sing I designed the stairway to Heaven. 

Climbing pyramid of First Mother Amen 
who sits lotus in fane of four palm trees, 
I offer prayer to wear face of First Father, 
so she pulls mask off the mummy of Thoth, 
thus I wear feather head of the ibis bird 
to carve epic of Horus on brick walls. 

Performing in Theater of the Absurd, 
I play the Hero with a Thousand Faces 
worshipped by humans in every religion, 
Krishna revealing face of each ancestor 
who sired next generation of my soul 
as Holy Spirit in womb of World Mother. 

While wearing faces of all my ancestors 
who evolved from fish into wingless angel 
four hundred million years of spinning time, 
I find I become the Many-Faced God 
awake in billions of people on Earth 
who share tale of the man without a face.