Sonnet 2

When the curtain falls and all must flee,

When the velvet drops against my skin,
I think to untie fabric bound to thee;
Unveiling softer cloth that lies within.

Desire cries, the show begins afresh,
But players, costume-less, no longer ‘play’.
A deeper yearning grows and is made flesh;
The drapes of pure pretence have slipped away.

How stark, the naked souls that intertwine;
How stark, now that the footlights cease to blaze;
How stark, as your proud yearning meets with mine,
The diff’rence ‘twixt love on and off the stage.

Now bed-sheets hide the pride of what was done,
The epilogue is over; love has won.

James Ball, February 2009