Whatever You Do

flowery weeds
picked with care
hand-cut cards
glittery pink
special invitations
to secrets Broadway shows
basement circuses
and game nights galore
movie premieres
carefully planned
and practiced for hours
on long summer days
homemade scripts
memorized well
couch stages
and Halloween costumes
makeshift props
and Crayola signs

thrown away
ridiculed
turned down
with no RSVP
stood up
on my opening night
left to face
my audience of
stuffed animals
the basement's empty
the couch abandoned
you couldn't be troubled
to leave your own room
choosing TV over family
"Whatever you do
don't grow up to be
an actress"

tell me what you see
when you look in my eyes
tell me what you think
when you see where I am now
there will always be a seat
for you in the audience
how long it will be empty
is completely up to you
but I'll always look out
from center stage
I'll listen for your laugh
wait for the flowers
wait for the applause
and those five small words
I would die to hear

I
Am
Proud
Of
You