Leave Them Wanting More - March 29 205

 

Leave Them Wanting More

March 29 2025

The end of the beginning

and then what?

As if it was all was a 3 act play

that sets the stage,

introduces complications,

then ends

in a final resolution

as the curtain drops.

Because satisfying or not

it’s coming down.

As if no one goes off script

the others improvise.

As if scenery never falls,

the lighting guy

miss a cue.

As if the man in the 9th row

never turns pale,

gasps loudly,

then slumps in his seat

holding his chest.

As for me, I’m far from the beginning

closer to the end.

In the trackless middle, I guess

looking back more than ahead.

Which will last

until the climax

every 3 act play demands;

a turning point

I don’t see coming,

and perhaps an end so sudden

I’ll never get to take my bow

or hear them shouting encore.

Never get the second chance

I’ve been so much hoping for;

to get the girl,

prove them wrong,

leave them wanting more.

Which was when the house lights went up

elbows were nudged

and the audience buzzed,

unsure

what or why.

Loud whispers

that turned to dead silence

as the ambulance arrived

and they watched the gurney

bumping down the stairs;

quiet, that is

except for the wife calling his name

and crying real tears.

Tears that are saltier

and have more sting

than stagecraft and make-believe.

As if I know.

As if I still can tell

what’s genuine

and what’s art.

Which leaves me wondering,

am I just a walk-on part

in my own life?

A secondary character

with a few precious lines

in the middle act?

A stagehand?

The lighting guy?

Or the man in the 9th row

not quite feeling myself?