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Bright lights

And applause.

And women.

And the rush of hallow fame.

It's an illusion

With nothing more to gain

Than cankerous ruin.

Yet they run after it.

Women dress their darlings

For charade

And prance them in front 

Of lecherous men

And crowds set to devour,

All for the empty acclaim

That consumes its subject 

By degrees.

And the winners 

Pay for their fleeting notoriety

With their souls 

And the sound you hear,

That great sucking sound

Is the sterilization 

Of a generation,

Their virility 

Flushed down the drain

That pours itself 

Into the putrid

Flowing sewer

That courses 

Down every street

And in and out 

Of of every house,

Each man lusting after

That which is not his own

And spewing out 

The thing that should be cherished.

And the women 

Having every man

And no man.

And all for the dream

That will not end

And leaves them empty.

For they did not understand 

That the sacred thing

Which they desired

Is and always was

Hidden.

"To your closets!" It cries.

"Hide yourself and dance

Before the dark and mystic

Thing you don't yet know.

Pour your heart and soul

Into that performance 

Which is only seen

By those not seen."

There, in the dark conceives

The cosmic and the real.

All else is smoke.

All else a dream.

Though real it seem.

And high it burns

Into the night!

Into the night!

Buuurrrn!...Buuuurrrn!

"Consume them up

And leave them dry!" 

It says.

"Then blow them out 

Upon the plain

Where their ashes

Mixed with gentle rain

Will sink into the fertile soil.

And from them 

All around will spring

The fairest flowers,

Flowers so sweet 

That little naked children's feet

Will dance among them.

And so for those 

Who think they seek

For fame,

Remember...

That the thing you really want 

You already have.

Seek it in your solitude.

And if you do,

In time,

When the mountains sink

Into the sea 

We'll praise your notoriety

As one who shunned 

The praise of men 

And thus 

In that eternal world

Gained it back again.