Final Exit
By
Jade Elliot
Published by Jade Elliot at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 by Jade Elliot
Final Exit
The curtain rises on the opening act
Stage is set, actors on their mark
A palpable hush of appropriate tact
From the audience hidden in the dark.
On another day it is I in the padded seat
While another squirms in ironic conflict
And burns in the directed spotlights heat
Waiting for what the plot shall depict.
But today it is I in the circle of light
Silently practicing my monologue
Antagonists eagerly prepare their fight
Hoping to script my closing epilogue.
Over and over the scenes are rehearsed
Comedies and tragedies spewing their recital
Covering life, and death, and magnificent birth
And all of life’s moments from mundane to vital.
Throat dry, I begin my soliloquy with quivered voice
Visioned much more than this from my moment of fame
The culmination of the marks I had made by choice
Leaves center stage now shadowed with shame.
I hope for applause, my final act all but over
The drama has ended with this my last breath
And so slow but deliberate the curtain now lowers
And all I can do is exit, stage left.