Autographs Are Forever Poem by Bryan Taplits

I've lived every scene and now I see
I always was an actor
in the making.
Beginning when so young; A scamp was I-
Easy acclaim I got-and hurrahs-
all for the taking.

My audiences always seemed to want more
And I amused them-
for I knew that I could.
And as my life glided down
My troubadour road,
I entertained-
Since I felt that I should.

But in my later years
My play seemed to take shape-
without structure
And its script-while it had feeling-
had no form,
And my talents-
which once were all of humor-
while still comedies-
contained too much of an abundance of corn.

Now as I lay in my final-curtain's shadow
playing my death scene-
No humor escapes from my lips.
No more is there energy to fuel my talent,
And no fervor to muster my wit.

I await for applause
and the encores of my legions-
It is the thunder and lightening I have won-
And while true that there is something
That 'something' has fled
and now is both wear-worn and gone.

For this staged show once mine
has now reached its climax-
and I see I'm at the end of my run.
Yes, the 2nd Act I hope will run longer-
But the 1st Act I think now is done.