I’m a Poet, Not an Actor

I’m a Poet, Not an Actor

Don’t ask me to read my verse
That sounds so dulcet in my head
But strangles on my tongue, and worse –

So I remain a poet,
Who must write my music down instead –
And never sing it, only show it.

Hire an actor if you’re glad to hear,
The thoughts of a muted man –
I’m just lyrics, they’re the ballardeer.

An actor who can lift my lines
In that easy way I never can –
And dress my stanzas to the nines !

An actor who will never mumble,
Never lilt, or gabble blindly on –
Whose feet will never stumble,

But bestride my words with vigour
Till this duckling soars a swan.
However small my print, they’ll make me bigger…

They whisper, pause, then roar and rally,
Words that need to be enbodied –
To the summet, down the valley –

If my words are calls to action,
It is they who see them lobbied
Into ears for satisfaction.