malalai khan

are you not entertained? // the trapdoor creaks beneath your feet / the spotlight overhead blinding in your wide eyes as if inside an interrogation room // cracking jokes for a crowd / long bored, long gone / the silence loud / as night turns to dawn // you keep forgetting the lines you want to say / and the lines you should // a laugh track echoes your own dry voice in the back / and you hope it will muffle the occasional crack, the ache // sand trickles from the centre of your heart / did you play the right part? // look around you, this is your cast / noone’s there, how long will this act last? // turning your life into a comedy / doesn’t change the ending, does it? / when it’s a grecian tragedy / doomed by the narrative from the beginning // buttoned eyes and sewn smiles / dreams made of paper and sawdust / wishing the strings were loose / a puppet in a theatre that was never meant for you // who are you performing for / when no one’s even there?