amorfati

STAGE DIRECTIONS

Intro

(Curtain rises.)

Nobody told me

the play had already begun.

No applause.

Just the first breath.

And...

we perform.

Verse 1

Stage directions.

Written in pencil,

easy to erase.

Stand.

Sit.

Keep silent.

Cry only after the curtain falls.

Nobody handed me the script.

I've been improvising

since my very first scream.

The curtain weighs

heavier than my eyelids.

The spotlight

burns through my eyes.

The audience?

Maybe mirrors.

Maybe strangers.

Maybe...

myself.

I play me.

Then I play

someone pretending to be me.

Until I forget

which version was the original.

The prompter disappeared.

The script

rotted in the rain.

Only fingerprints

remain in the margins.

Chorus

(Stage directions.)

Enter.

Breathe.

Don't look down.

If you forget your lines...

speak with your heart.

If the lights go out...

pretend

it was always part of the play.

Verse 2

Someone scribbled

between the lines:

"Don't get attached."

So I stitched

my skin

to the stage.

Props become memories.

Chairs remember

the weight we leave behind.

Doors remember

every exit

we never had the courage

to take.

Every dialogue

is just a monologue

echoing back.

Every entrance

already contains

an exit.

Applause?

Just blood

ringing inside my ears.

The curtain falls

every single day.

Nobody notices.

Because everyone

is acting

in the same theatre.

Bridge

(Silence.)

It wasn't

written into the script.

So I wrote it myself.

Neither

was I.

Outro

Stage directions.

(Exit.)

Not yet.

One more scene.

One more breath.

(Curtain remains open.)