A Change Of Heart

You turn the footlights of your enthusiasm
full on your new-found star
and sitting back in the stalls
you point with creator’s pride
to felicities of speech and movement,
his nice appreciation of the role you’ve chosen for him.
You broadcast his praises
name his every thought
share his private life with all acquaintance.

Then there is power failure,
Emergency lighting is not so brilliant,
the persona fades as the stage presence dims:
movements now look clumsy; the voice is raucous
and do you, at times, hear a petulant note?
He has lost his lustre and what is more
seems no longer worth direction.