O make me a mask (opening and closing lines)

For Oleg Popov* 
1930-2016 

O make me a mask and a wall to shut from your spies

Of the sharp, enamelled eyes and the spectacled claws 

. . . 

Others betray the lamenting lies of their losses

By the curve of the nude mouth or the laugh up the sleeve.



Dylan Thomas 1937

*Visit 'zen my ass' for link to Russian Circus and the late Oleg Popov - world's no.1 clown. 

another day, another try