THE CHARLATAN

My liniments and my nostrums can’t cure you.

The commedia dell'arte in my dog and pony show

are all a masquerade. The what 

in what I’m selling has no why. 

That’s what’s missing: the why, 

the raison d'etre. Without it all my actions 

are charade and chicanery. Without it

there’s no trust. And without trust 

the tincture has no tonic.