Weighty Roles

Before here,
When vying for parts,
Maybe everyone called dibs
To be queen or empress
Until reading ahead
Where a guillotine drops
Into the script.
So we negotiated for
Plays within the play:
Opera, movies, TV, books,
Halloween nights,
Cosplay and costume balls
For donning royal gowns
Or villainous robes
With a pardon attached,
While we forget for a sec
The pressures of the role
We improvise daily.

After this soirée,
When you exit stage
Right into reality,
Maybe recall anew
The magnificence
Of meager lives
Dressed in mercy.

(costume de Vittelia
LA CLÉMENCE DE TITUS
musique: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
mise en scène: Federik Mirdita
costumes: Géra Graf
Opéra national de Paris 1987)