Exit Stage Left

Exit Stage Left

Thinking back…

It’s like I was on stage acting out my life in the form of a play, performing every scene with ease.

Family, friends, strangers on the streets, all these people were part of my troupe and my audience, and I was always the star of the show.

Whatever was required I could do. I could laugh, I could cry, I could dance, I could sing. If their eyes were on me I would always give them the best performance.

Alone at night, with the spot-light off my stage grew cold and dark. It was fine though, I didn’t want to exit the stage and leave my play behind after-all so I would just stay behind and never walk out into the real world with everyone else.

Then one day a ballerina in white appeared on my stage, dancing with the grace of a swan. The spot-light turned to her and I became enchanted by the beauty of her performance. I decided that she would become my Odette and we would share the stage.

Weeks turned to months, months to years, and we shared each day under the spot-light together, the grand duette of every performance. Yet, I could feel it in me, intoxicating me, draining me, devouring me. I would forget my lines. I would forget what it was I was doing and thinking. I was no longer the great thespian of the theater, but a plebian who knew nothing of acting.

A person, that’s all I was. That’s all my Odette was. We weren’t actors, we were people. And if I truly wanted our love to blossom I couldn’t do it on the cold, hard-wood stage.

I wanted to go outside and my Odette gave me the strength to face the real world. So arm in arm, the grand duette gave its final performance and we exited stage left to become lovers under the blue skies of the real world.

Now, thinking back, I wish I had realized what I wanted sooner. Every day together with my beloved was magical and I wish I could have had more under the sun with her.

Though I am certain, just as the real Odette had ascended into the heavens, mine is up there waiting for me.