Will yourself to rise, get to the opera house on time.
The doors to the auditorium are standing open wide.
Placed precisely toward the east, a mat of intricate design.
Take your place, you’ll find there is no other by your side.
This magna amphitheater bills a dawning of a different kind.
This spectacle is free and offered every day,
Not a popular production or a spectator sport.
This is interactive theater, not to sit and fan yourself.
Neither score nor libretto is easily ingested.
You must memorize the lines, then forget everything else.
The dark velvet curtain rises, all anticipation too.
Footlights project a dappled pinkness all across the sky.
The orchestra with cacophony ushers out the night.
The cock, the cardinal, the finch, euphonia and cuckoo
Give first call to greet the dawn, you know the hour is nigh.
The prelude ablutions made, 95 incantations fly, gazing from side to side.
Stage left Mercy enters and Compassion on stage right.
Act One: Fire and Light.
The burning of the veils, the surrender of desire,
Submission to His will,
Yearning to approach His throne,
His might and power testified,
A plea for everlasting life,
The self in servitude will die.
Act Two: The Gate of the City.
An imploring for admittance,
The poor creature at His door,
The stranger hastens to the canopy of His majesty,
The humble one clings tenaciously to His cord,
Knowing the birds of the hearts of the devoted will ne’r attain,
Sanctified above all attributes and holy above all names,
His grandeur beyond query.
The Hidden Mystery the only hope,
The Treasured Emissary.
Act Three: Footsteps In The Wilderness.
Lamentations of the heart, melting from within,
Tears won’t quench the shame of heedlessness and sin,
Begging for forgiveness, atonement from disgrace,
Gratitude for guidance,
A plea for His protection,
And a witness to His grace.
Then comes the Grand Finale, a stillness in the air, the fiery globe reveals itself,
Is lifted center stage. All colors are projected, all creatures come to life.
All promises fulfilled, the end of anguished inner strife.