The Actor Poem by jan hansen

the actor
When very young I wanted to be an actor, my uncle Lars had been
an actor, I remember seeing him playing a detective and shouted,
 this is my uncle, mother took me outside so the play could resume.
Twice a week I took drama classes at the local theater and after some
time someone thought I was good enough to be on stage to play
a butler; the job was simple when the lady of the manor rang a bell
I was coming into the room with a tray, serving coffee and cakes.
She rang, I opened the door but when I saw the audience the tray
slipped out of my hands; not knowing what to do, I dived to the floor
trying to hide under a carpet.
The actress, who played the lady kept her cool" it's OK John, the
maid can clear the broken cups, just bring me another tray."
Oh, how the audience laughed I heard the giggles out in the cold
street where I had fled; what a total humiliation!
Coming home, my mother thought my fall was staged.
No mother, it was supposed to be a serious play and I made a mess.
It happened a ship loaded with copra docked, they needed a cook
the old one had broken his arm, I got the job.
Two years later, when the ship returned, I was paid off
Surely, my humiliation must have been forgotten by now
Not so, after all, my home turf was a small town, and nothing much
happened from one year to the next.
Sitting in the park reading a paper, a man stopped and said: "I know
you, you are the man who fell on the stage, it was very funny."