Life is an unrehearsed production
Each day is opening night
Sans dress rehearsals.
The curtain rises, time to wake.
The sun signals lights, camera, action.
Walking through scenes,
Mastering lines but sometimes faltering.
Decide- run off stage or forge on.
The audience, strangers and peers,
Waits to critique.
Costumes depict a character, not a person.
Makeup cannot hide imperfections
Nor do the comedy and tragedy masks
Convey true emotion.
Sometimes a lead
And others a prop.
Love the spotlight
but appreciate the darkness.
Old performances cannot be redone.
Mistakes cannot be mended.
Move on from what is unchangeable
because the next show is casting.
But when the career is over
and the applause is a faint sound in the distance,
All that is left is memories,
Until the final curtain falls for eternal darkness.