A Fool's Part to Play

A Fool's Part to Play

2019

The performances aren't exactly sold-out

Now, in his near-dotage, but the richness

Of a demanding character's truest essence

Can, finally, be portrayed with confidence.

As I recollect, the understudy was the

Fool's grandest emulator, both on and

Off the stage. Either wearing a kimono

Or a Saville Row, herringbone suit, it

Was always the same play to him. He

Simply lay in wait in the wings, night

After night, for a chance to play a part.

But the fool had endurance. He never

Failed to make a fool of himself on cue.

He never missed a performance, due to

His love of curtain calls and applause.

And encores by audience demand gave

His spirit's tedium, the lift it craved.

Performances past are now well beyond

Number, but the footlights still call. Is it

The actor in all of us, or was the fool cast

So perfectly, as no other ever had been?

Greasepaint now finds deep crevasses in

Which to linger, but still, the fool carries

On, as though faux youth's handsomest

Efforts at nobility could ever infuse the

Tired, old script with some new, possibly

Moral sense. He really is a fool, isn't he?

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Jonhal Fabian Keyser