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James Whitcomb Riley - Private Theatricals
Work rating: Low

A quite convincing axiom
    Is, "Life is like a play";
For, turning back its pages some
    Few dog-eared years away,
        I find where I
        Committed my
Love-tale--with brackets where to sigh.

I feel an idle interest
    To read again the page;
I enter, as a lover dressed,
    At twenty years of age,
        And play the part
        With throbbing heart,
And all an actor`s glowing art.

And she who plays my Lady-love
    Excels!--Her loving glance
Has power her audience to move--
    I am her audience.--
        Her acting tact,
        To tell the fact,
"Brings down the house" in every act.

And often we defy the curse
    Of storms and thunder-showers,
To meet together and rehearse
    This little play of ours--
        I think, when she
        "Makes love" to me,
She kisses very naturally!

    .    .    .    .    .    .

Yes; it`s convincing--rather--
    That "Life is like a play":
I am playing "Heavy Father"
    In a "Screaming Farce" to-day,
        That so "brings down
        The house," I frown,
And fain would "ring the curtain down."
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