Gas Mask Mustache

[TranquillityBase]

Watching inebriate Charlie
pursued around inside a revolving glass door
or as a lone prospector ambling precariously
along a Yukon precipice
I can’t help but see that Other
with his gas mask mustache,
guttural hypnotism, and messianic delusions.
Where Charlie was loose limbed
seeding the world with joy
the Other grew progressively stiff 
dedicated to hate, 
yet I found an answer in Charlie
and I dreamed that the Other was condemned
to follow in Chaplin’s footsteps,
literally, stumbling through every gag
his brown uniform shabby and ill-fitting
his only symbol of power a slim flexible cane, 
no crowds to fall headlong under his spell,
just startled bystanders jumping  out of the way
of his spasmodic forced dance,
unable to use his hoarse voice 
no Roman salutes left, only the laughter of his victims,
trapped  inside every film
from Charlie’s flawless imagination,
dictating nothing but the absurd,
until he stumbles and bumbles his way
up the wooden ramp into the cattle-car
bound for Auschwitiz and a final audience
with a canister of Zyklon-B.

Watching inebriate Charlie

pursued inside a revolving glass door

or as a lone prospector ambling precariously

along a Yukon precipice

I can’t help but see that Other

with his gas mask mustache.

Where Charlie was loose limbed

seeding the world with joy

Herr Hitler grew progressively stiff 

dedicated to destruction, 

yet God found an answer in Charlie

and I dreamed that Hitler’s Hell

might be to follow forever in Chaplin’s footsteps,

literally, stumbling through every gag

his brown uniform shabby and ill-fitting

his only symbol of power

a slim flexible cane, no Sieg Heils

left, only the laughter of his victims,

trapped forever inside every film

from Charlie’s flawless imagination,

dictating nothing but the absurd.