a lighter colour

a lighter colour might relieve the day

of tiny pains and errors in my thought

these factors that add up to make distraught

the sense of being in a tragic play

waiting to learn just what the critics say

just to find out if it was all for naught

those words and actions that in time were wrought

to earn another evening's small pay

each role that's taken makes a smaller dash

upon the surface of this narrow lake

on which we lay an old and sacred name

our purpose is defined for cold hard cash

not undertaken for some human ache

since nothing gains us points in a great game