My Show Has Left Me All Aglow

“. . . because it allowed me and a gathering of folks to just enjoy ourselves for an hour or so during a time of shame and embarrassment in our country.” Poetry by Ernie McCray

I’ve had some amazing experiences
on stage,
and I haven’t arranged them
in any particular order,
but the love and appreciation
I received
the other day and the other night
for the poetry I shared under the heading of
“Still Me, After all These Years”
topped it all for me,
saying to me,
at an age
where I’m way more near my end
than my beginning,
that my life
has had meaning,
that people can relate to it
and gain something of value from it,
enough to stand and clap heartily
after hearing the last words of it,
applause that warmed my heart
like the lullabies
a mother hums and sings
to a child,
protecting the little one,
in such moments,
from any harm
that might come their way,
like from the bogey-man,
a character who is imaginary –
but the demon I was rescued from,
at this time in my lifetime,
was an orange tinted man
who, in reality, is as evil as anyone
can possibly be.
 
Reflecting on my show
has me all aglow
because it allowed me
and a gathering of folks
to just enjoy ourselves
for an hour or so
during a time
of shame and embarrassment
in our country.
 
Any respite will do. 

Ernie McCray is an activist for love and peace who acts and sings and writes both poetry and prose, a man who rises each day to do whatever he can, no matter how small or grand, to make the world better in some way.

Unapologetically.