Morality Play

"Costume is character." -- from a book on acting technique.

If this play were
A moral play
Like Everyman,
You would expect
Abstractions
To take on flesh,
To breathe and walk
Upon the stage,
Boldly clad
In scarlet gown
Or hooded in the black
Of executioners.

You'd not be much aroused
If Beauty --
Moist with passion --
Made her grand entrance
From stage right,
Nor would I quake
If Death
Paced grimly
To the apron of the stage
And met my gaze
And pointed straight at me.

Yet when this character appears,
Schlepping aimlessly
Into my life,
His heavy metal hair,
His shredded jeans,
His air-brushed tee-shirt
Naming him a "Party Animal,"
His obscene, dangling earring
Made of feather, fish-hook,
And a golden cross,
His eyes and speech
Befuddled by his chemicals --

Lord,
Whenever he appears,
Grant me serenity.

For he evokes
The ancient fear
That Goth or Hun
Is mindlessly
About to strike,
About to torch the temple
And our homes
While we lie cowering,
Too terrified to speak,
Too impotent to act.
And, in truth,
I am ashamed.

This is no play.

Nor is it moral.

-- Warren F. O'Rourke, 1990 (revised in 2004)