Act I
Today. Marks the day. 
I thought things 
would be different.  
The set is established.
Decades of experience 
etched 
on this trouper's face.   

Act II 
Sorrow fills my vacant performance
Hope sits silently behind the scrim
The show continues
the changes only slight

Act III 
Life carries on
there is no understudy 
while 
the audience remains on standby

Act IV 
Transformation
of this performer. A solo act. 
The villain revealed.  Again. 

Act V
This heroine rises; 
from the quarrel; 
with the denouement 
of one's self.