performance

performance   

 

this performance of self was slipping away

a loose scarf falling from her shoulders

her hands flapping and fearful   useless

and in these final scenes

when everything   everything   was sliding away

she had never been closer to what it meant to be

to what it meant to be her   not to be her 

the lights about to go out   the curtain to fall

and the audience awed by the performance

the standing ovation   the rain    the flowers

 

in the carpark a slight impatience

platitudes   performance

the need for something solid   something graspable

 

the stage the theatre in darkness   

the scarf on the floor left behind  

a darker shadow   irretrievable