by Rodney Williams

‘I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be’

– T.S. Eliot, ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’

It’s not my place to invent soliloquy
Outside lines in a script, I don’t improvise
Beneath stage lights I’m given a me to be

In no cutting-edge shows, far more repertory
With bit-parts in classics again dramatised
It’s not my role to present soliloquy

At best an understudy there’s no envy
Despite hoping when young for signs in the skies
Under spotlights now it’s cameos for me

An old hand in the corps of this company
With its proscenium arch I don’t surmise
It’s not my part to vent in soliloquy

The dressing-room mirror hears my own story
Before make-up & costumes provide disguise
Through follow-spots I’m given a me to be

With no statuette from an academy
Still to tread these boards is my career’s gold prize
Beyond my scope float dreams of soliloquy
Beneath stage lights I’ve still got a me to be