Actors nightmare

I dreamed I was in a play not that unusual 

 I have been treading the boards since I was 12

The lights are blinding

I can’t see the audience but I know they are there

I hear the shuffling

I hear the polite coughs

The breath of a hundred or more

All eyes are on me

I knew where I was

Reality broke the spell

My stage partner is looking

Imploring begging me to speak

I don’t have the words

My character has slipped away

Out into the cold dark lobby

Into the wild

Was she bold or shy

Funny or wise

It’s as if we never met

No one wants to hear from me

My observations are not desired

They crave her well chosen words

But she fled 

Left the theater

Left me here

To clean up her mess

Others enter early

To salvage the story

I stand statuesque in the spotlight

Has it been a minute or an hour

I blankly stare at their moving mouths

Heart racing

Hands sweating

Lights blinding

Then she comes back 

As quickly as she left

I toss my hair say a line

Deep in the story

Get us back on track

As if the wormhole never existed

Twice in the 40 years on stage

Did this happen

In college a production of

The goodbye girl

Years later a puppet show

Frankenstein 

Over 20 years ago

And it still haunts my dreams