Such a Show

Who asked you to go on
And give such a show
And bow
 And draw the curtain?

No one was there, watching
Anyhow, how I can tell you
Is I heard of how it went:
What a flop it was.

Now, you want to know for certain
Whether there’s anyone watching?
Well, I wouldn’t have built the stage
The way you did, so blocked off.

Neither would I have supplied
Applause on a track on a loop
To play when your piece reaches highs
And lows and ends.

To begin with, I would have turned around,
I wouldn’t have had my back to the crowd,
It seems so ostentatious;
And you could have told it was empty.

Although the curtain was down in front of you,
Through the light you would have been able to tell;
There would have been silhouettes and murmuring
If people were there.

Then you pulled up the curtain
Instead of lowering it, at the end,
When a tear comes to your eye and you wave
And you bow; it must have been embarrassing.

But no one
Harassed you, to begin with,
Into putting on such a show
For any open, absent jaws.