Five stages

Five stages
Where you are required to perform
Five sets of steps to climb
Five songs to sing
Acts to deliver
Steps to dance


One foot ascending at a time
You find the X marking center
Refusing to believe that this is what's now expected
You breathe in someone else's breath
Stammer thin notes in another voice
A squeak and a shake
These are not yours
You did not make them
Couldn't possibly


Your monologue is screamed
Guttural and glistening with spit
The red veil coloring your audience
Shadowboxing a foe who has already fled
A shock you could possibly lose a fight
That has already been lost


If you soft-shoe in precisely the right beat
It will all come back to you
Your breath
Your voice
Your vision
Your sparring partner
A chance for victory


These don't come back
You should have waltzed when you tapped
The stairs are too high
So you sit
Unable to move
Tears leave salt trails drying on your cheeks
Not bothering to wipe them


This is supposed to be the map
This is meant to show the way


What happens when you reach acceptance
but it's you
you can't accept?