It’s hard to tell

for all the telling

of tales and sonnets

revelries gone by

all the laughing and

singing and dancing

pomp

and happenstance

what was really happening

while we were working

and schooling

living

they were

spying

and lying

dying

behind the facade

a cut up backdrop

a curtain of iron

places people

summon the sovereigns’

smiles and later denials

it’s hard to tell

what was really happening.

Except that it was

really happening

in front of our eyes or

the cameras that subbed for

our eyes

making it easy

enough to see

for those that cared to

really look at

the show that played on

its final act that ended the Cold War

and gave us a peace dividend

of dubious value.

Everything that ends

all right isn’t

all right.

An actor skilled in his craft

can still deceive

even if only

for benevolent motives.

A people starving for ease

can still believe

even as the truces slip again

into danger.

There remain dark corners

unexplored.

The world may be a better place.

It’s hard to tell.

 

-Danny Grosso