Night after Night,
Day after Day,
He declaimed the words
he'd been given to say.

His costumes selected,
Each cue prearranged,
Little freedom of movement
Just a pawn in the game.

Each move blocked and taped.
The audience roared
at the droll repartee
he had heard oft before.

His understudy waits,
like all of his kind.
For the day he would falter
and be left behind

Beatrice and Benedict
time after time
No chance in a million
of forgetting his lines.