Empty Stage - Inktober 2018 day 9

Empty Stage 

Finding things to do with fingers, 

Fumbling over futile line-runs,

And a single question stays and lingers:

Is it time yet?

Is it time? 

Watching, waiting,

Ticket-holders inspect an empty stage.

Reading programmes,

Gleaning meanings,

And will this thing last an age? 

Quick checks and catches, 

Props set and cheeks flushing,

Clutching tonight’s character closer,

As lights dim and it begins. 

Then it’s on,

Up there,

Stage left then forward,

Then exit 1,

Then run and run,

And is this fun?

‘Til it’s finished, done.

The set is struck,

The bows are taken,

My hands stop shaking,

There’s a sudden nothing,

Just a lack of light on an empty stage.

It’s all too brief,

This life we created,

From simple words on a simple page.