A lifetime.
Erased.  Cut short. Exit stage.
Without a glance downstage.
Fellow players in your tragedy
Left to bow.  To explain.
Words don’t come – but pain…
that flows with the muted
applause.  For the ‘bravery’,
the ‘getting through’.
Away from the spotlight
backstage we wretch.
We cling and we weep.
We struggle to eat, to function, to sleep.
Your new audience greets
You.  You mutter, what show?
I closed it down
It’s no longer mine.
I lowered the curtain.
Shut it down.  Closed it up.
Exit left.
Fellow players that you once inspired
Slow clap your tragedy.