On Stage

...

On Stage

Standing on the stage with every light turned off,
Except one spotlight beaming down on me.
That one light shining so bright, illuminated me brilliantly,
So all in the tightly packed hall could see.
Endless rehearsal, on countless days
Had come then for a light to shine from my boyhood frame,
So the audience could hear the song coheres from me to entertain.

Centre on the stage, with a microphone alone with me.
Gazing into the darkness, blank blackness stared back at me.
In the thick darkness could possibly have been
No one in that empty blackness staring back to see.
An anxious shake in my bones,
Feeling every eye focused in anticipation;
The spotlight's glare on me.

The piano began to play,
Ushering in the song for my young voice to sing.
That song I sang so many times,
It flowed from the tongue, each tone rang-out so easily.
Yet, with all eyes transfixed with ears in wait to hear,
I could remember not one word to sing.
Both tongue, and mind, froze in fright;
The stage had captured me.

The song played on as I stood
Without a word to mutter to the crowd waiting eagerly.
Each note played on in epic silence;
A vengeful quiet sorrow, fully crafted by me.
As the piano finished playing
That frigid silence grew more profound.
The spotlight turned off,
Which quickly made tears drip from my eyes, and off my chin;
If only they had seen.

Lost in that endless moment;
Stage-fright had crippled me.
Far gone who I was to fright,
In hope who I could be.