Necromancers
(For the cast and crew
of South Pacific, 1993)

Lifeless words rest in the script,
a portable cemetery of dreams.
Black skeletons on white sheets
wait for your magic breath
to flesh out flexible bones.
Each chanted line tricks death
into relaxing its temporary grip
on the faceless names you call.
Each gesture, each expression
transports your focused craft
into characters that stumble out
and melt into your willingness
to make room for the people
you resurrect within yourself
through nightly rituals.

Too soon, the curtain rises,
the transformation complete.
You, emersed in the magic,
love or cry in borrowed passions
suspended in a fragile reality
until the final curtain falls,
and the applause breaks the spell.

Drew A. Foster