Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CURTAIN, by J. K. H.


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CURTAIN, by                    
First Line: Lower the curtain, let the scene end
Last Line: My own opinion is he'll not be back.
Subject(s): Actors & Actresses; Plays & Playwrights ; Actresses; Dramatists


Lower the curtain, let the scene end,
Though the play's not half through!
If the people want their money back, let the box office pay:
The show that has no finale is better, could they but know --
But some, denied a happy ending, will want their feelings soothed --
So pay them, if they demand!

If any should ask why the play was stopped --
(Though none will wait to see!)
Tell them the plot broke down and the parts became impossible:
(Has an actor no rights?)
The star had been improvising most of the last scene --
Mouthing meaningless sounds --
Threading a dubious way amidst the sets --
The antiquated rubbish of the stage!

That was a weird experience he hinted at!
All was familiar when the play began:
He had his lines, he knew his way about,
But presently, it seems, he lost himself:
He wandered into remote, unreal lands----
Forgot his lines, or saw them grow confused --
Whilst all the other actors turned to ghosts!

The playwright slipped, I guess:
He followed the vagaries of the actor's thought
Clean to the brink of a precipice -- of mind --
But he left the stage unchanged!
So, suddenly,
Our friend beheld his world turn round and round:
His mind was slipping down the precipice --
His feet still clung to the old, familiar rug
In front of the fireplace -- where cold ashes lay!

He tried to pull himself -- I mean his worlds --
Together -- but his will was powerless!
He tried to call up clues, suggestions, tricks --
No more:
His will went downward to the slimy deeps --
His shoulder leaned against the mantelpiece!
He saw it all -- as one who, from some height,
Watches the rain below, the sun above
A cloud that threatens, presently, to blot him out!

He's gone: no telling what he'll do henceforth!
If he waits for the author to finish up the play,
He may have to wait for years: Playwrights are slow! --
He may come back and improvise the part,
Stumbling through to an end -- but I think not!
He may be gone for good, leaving the stage
To wander forever in the primrose fields!
He may seek quick release in the stormy seas!

My own guess is he's off to write his play:
He's through with authors who let things get mixed:
He's long been tired of reading others' lines;
And he's not brave enough to improvise
For more than some few brief moments at a time!
I think he hopes to catch life unawares and wring
Her last amazing secret from the wench!
My own opinion is he'll not be back.





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