Metamorphosis

Perform for us, the world it cries

An audience with ever-watchful eye

Make us laugh, cause us to think

The spectators yearn, they plead, they breathe

Like a single organ, a pair of lungs

Respiring together in unison

The wrinkled performer behind the mic

I’ve lost that way, that soul, that might

The money’s spent, the piggy bank broke

Not a coin is left in the pockets of my coat

Those nerves have deadened

That fire waned

No longer want to stand up on that stage

Inciting some lips to smirk, the others to praise

All I want is a wink of sleep

Of respite from the work it takes to please

To lie there next to my dear friend

Rub my old bones against his

Transcend the mouth, the teeth, the tongue

The tools of language I never mastered well

Intuit instead the rhythm of the heart,

Merge together, and expire in the dark