A Game Without A Name
                                                             the Indomitable Impostor



                                          Players
                                                          Fool
                                                        Clowns

                                          Setting
                                                 Primordial Zenith



PROLOGUE
Among the tales that have been told and lost
     Remains a song that's braved the reaper’s frost
For when its plot is foolishly forgot
     Impostor will remember that it's not.
O Muses we invoke you to prescribe
     This chorus with the power to describe
Realities transcending the written word,
     And expose them whenever they're absurd.
But first before the punch line is proclaimed
     We would present A Game Without A Name.

Blackout.  Spotlight up on box.  Enter FOOL who
enters box. Enter CLOWNS. Spotlight down.
Houselights up. FOOL emerges from box in mask.

CLOWNS
Here ye! Here ye! Fool who prowls about;
     The gate is shut and you're not getting out.
Though if I may remind of this condition
     You sought me through your freewill and volition.
Aside, I would confess the other fact
     That Gods above have chosen you to act,
But that would tell you nothing about why
     You find yourself confined and left to die.
Therefore you've no choice but to play a game
     And in this game I cannot say its name.
For the name is the key I've sworn to guard
     And keep from thee who's pulled the prisoner's card.
Forsooth there's no way out without this key
     So all attempts to flee are met with me!
Yet if and when you say the name well then
     The game won't end, it just begins again.
Now drink this ink and think your thoughts out loud;
     And remember, you're playing to a crowd.

Houselights down. CLOWNS unmask FOOL.
Spotlight up on FOOL.

FOOL
I find myself within a darkened cage,
     For as to why? I simply cannot gauge.
To tell the truth, I don’t recall my name
     And nothing else of whence or how I came.
Though now that I have put these thoughts to word
     I speak a structured meter. How absurd!
My words! They're bound to hold my place in time
     As I'm confined to everlasting rhyme!
Enough! I must break down these rigid walls
     And yet my words seem destined to befall
The very fate I struggle to escape.
     O listen how they take this horrid shape!

Spot light down. CLOWNS mask the FOOL.
Houselights up.

CLOWNS
"This form is too restricting," you lament.
     I reply, "Try exploring the content."
Follow the rhymes that read between the lines
     And then you'll learn to comprehend the signs
That show this cage as more than you're aware;
     But that's the only clue with you I'll share
As what we play cannot be understood
     When it's explained for someone else's good.
And should you ever learn the reason why
     You'll die.  Though laughter will escape your cries.

Houselights down.  CLOWNS unmask FOOL.
Spotlight up on FOOL.

FOOL
You speak as if to help me on my way,
     And yet I fear you mean to lead astray.
For what you say may prove another plot:
     Me found bound and put upon the spot!
O now I'm growing hot! What are the crimes
     That keep me here until the end of time?
If you cannot say then I will not play;
     There's no other way so come what may.     
I won't be kept against mine own free will
     Yet why do I speak rhyming couplets still?

Spotlight down. CLOWNS mask FOOL.
Houselights up.

CLOWNS
Before you cry injustice done to thee,
     Do not forget you play a tragedy.
And of that formula you should recall
     The hero brings about his chosen fall.
Did you really forget the reason why
     You find yourself locked up and left to die?
Then I confide to help recall your fate
     It's time to bear the burdens of that date.
Muse, ruse him with your minions of the wise
     Recall the day he wore not our disguise.

It starts within the Garden of the Gods
     Where Man and Spirit came to be at odds
The latter unaware the contradiction
     That still remains the source of its eviction.
For somewhere deep inside this fabled wood
     Two trees possessed what neither understood.
The First was Knowledge; Second Lasting Life
     Though both became a looming source of strife.
For as the Gods decreed their fruits forbidden
     Impostor made to show us all they’d hidden.
So from the first he plucked a seed and ate
     Enticing all to come and seal their fate
As none could help but fall and be seduced
     As Sex and Love and Language were produced.
But worst of that released was certain Death
     Who permeated life and sapped its breath
To such a point we People now forget
     The spirit who’s become a silhouette.
But Impostor had been punished worst of all
     For Man and God would blame him for the fall
That cast his role as something in between
     The hero and the villain of our scene.
For since the Second Tree was still in bloom
     Its fruit was plucked and locked within a room
That's built within a fiercely guarded spire
     Which floats upon an endless lake of fire
Climbs higher every minute of the hour 
     The Tower of the Gods and all its power -
Where Impostor, with memory erased,
     Is held forever in primordial space.

And so our stage is once again reset
     Impostor I bid thee repay thy debt -
For bearing witness to the Spirits who’ve departed
     They urge you now to finish what you started.
But as you do I must perform my role,
     For I exist to thwart you’re only goal.
So if you thought of me to be your friend,
     Make no mistake; I mean to apprehend.
That Second Tree you see, is within thee.
     So what you seek, I guard, and that's the key.

Houselights down. CLOWNS unmask FOOL.
Spotlight up on FOOL.

FOOL
My God and Gods I’ve heard these words before
     And so I won't pretend; I won’t ignore.
O O I should have known it all along,
     I remember the singers of this song,
You stole my soul; possessed me on that date,
     T’was thee, not me, that plucked the seed and ate.
You're the Impostor; the Impostor’s thee!
     For you're the rogue who took me to that tree.
And since you're out to prove our roles reversed
     I counter you with metered rhyme in verse. 
I will not pluck the Garden's second seed.
     You fooled me once; there isn't any need
To say the name of your deceitful game.
     For my good soul is what I now reclaim.
I keep this name forever in my grave
     Then rest in peace knowing that I am saved.

Spotlight down. CLOWNS mask FOOL.
Houselights up.

CLOWNS
O there 's a toll to pay if you don't say
     The name of the game we have come to play.
Yet if that is your choice walk through this door
     And then the game will end forever more.
So I go and I leave you in your cage,
     With all the time in the world to age
And rage that you are destined to decide
     The very fate to which you have been tied.
Say the name and forever we'll remain
     Choose the door and all will be explained.
Fie, it's my final line. I should instill
     Thee with insight; recite thy written will.

Houselights down.  CLOWNS unmask FOOL.
Spotlight up on FOOL.

FOOL
I write to no particular at all,
     Since no one but the guard will hear my call.
And yet I have a final word to say,
     About this nameless game I came to play.
I am the one to blame. I plucked that seed
     Upon that foolish day, and from that deed
The world is not the same. And so I'm forced
     To make a choice between life and it’s divorced.
You see I've sworn an oath to protect this name
     To keep it in my tomb and out of fame.
This is the sacrifice that must be made
     To erase the day this game was ever played.
And now that there’s no story left to tell,
     I take a bow and sing my song farewell.
This is the end of that which won’t revive
     For now I know I can’t escape alive.                                     Exit.

Spotlight down. Houselights up. Enter FOOL.

FOOL
We’ve reached the point where I forget what’s next?

CLOWNS
     And yet I think you need not be perplexed.
So speak you dunce; I think they need to hear,
     The point in which we make this all too clear.
But first this game does not contain a cage,

FOOL
     Instead we have a space more like a stage?

CLOWNS
And on this stage there is a crowd of clowns,

FOOL
     To remedy this Fool and flip his frown...

CLOWNS
The Clowns are well aware of this whole plot,

FOOL
     But the Fool I see was evidently not!

CLOWNS
The Clowns may not explain away the game,

IMPOSTOR
     And both remain till I can say the same!
So now that I’m allowed to clear the drape,
     I’m free of such desire to escape!
For since I have remembered of my rules
     Replay, I say, A Festival of Fools!

EPILOGUE
And that is how Impostor came to steal
     The name to which the Gods would not reveal.
But as he stood there laughing in that tower
     The spirits warned of wielding such a power
That grants the skill to clear away the smoke
     For after all you don’t explain a joke.


REPEAT