curtain calls

A crowd of breathless witnesses shivered
in the vestige of an audible forthcoming
and through the rafters I heard it all—
the confession of the act,
the applause at the depth
nothing more than shallow motion.
There was nothing more in my memory than
spotlights resting on a fading apparition,
as at last I descended
collected my coat
and exited though the weighty silence
of a cold and wanting resolution.