Play ( a song)

    by Ted Guhl
    with make-up smeared and worn
    eyelids straining and red
    an actor sits in a pitiful pose
    and whispers these lines of dread

    charlatan charlatan charlatan
    in terror and hunger and rage
    trained in gesture timing and voice
    the conscious craft of the stage

    play play play
    as the audience laughs and cries
    play play play
    for the stranger with a thousand eyes

    and actor is but a slave
    his master a clap of the hand
    his reward a frown or a rave
    then do it over again

    play play play
    till the voice begins to crack
    play play play
    till bowing breaks the back

    love and anguish and death
    death and passion and love
    and you know every twist of the plot
    and the character fits like a glove

    and everyone cheers and applauds
    and says, "what a talented boy"
    and " what a charming play it was"
    as if it were merely a toy

    charlatan charlatan charlatan
    in lights and costume and paint
    tonight you marry your mother
    tomorrow you burn for a saint

    so play play play
    at life it’s only a dream
    play play play
    the world is not what it seems
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