ACT XIII.L
No scene is born
when first the curtain doth arise.
Ere light be cast upon the boards,
a name long forgotten
draws breath within the dark,
as one that hath waited
beyond the reckoning of time.
In this play,
all that is seen
serves only as the sign
of that which keeps itself unseen.
Not out of craft,
nor for concealment’s sake,
but for this cause alone:
that presence on the stage
is suffer’d
only in silence.
Twelve figures are brought forth,
like an echo yet unended,
sent from a far-off place.
Thus they appear upon the stage.
Yet reckon them not.
For number is but a veil,
and lays no meaning
upon their bodies.
He that is the thirteenth
stands not amongst them.
He moves nor forward nor behind,
like to the point
from which the circle is begot,
yet which itself
is never held
within the circle.
Amirmahdy Zahedy