"Audition"

Keaton
St. Margaret of Scotland School
St. Louis City, MO

The first note drones from the piano
             for what seems like a millennium.
I think I can’t do this,
            as I hear the first note sound,
            but I find the courage somewhere,
            so I sing.
I feel weightless,
           and all of the panic floats away
           with every note I sing,
           I find there is still fear inside me,
           but I rise above everything.
Months and months of practicing
          all melt down to 32 measures,
          that used to feel infinite,
          but now, it’s over as soon as it began.
I can hear all of my hard work pay off,
         singing better than I have ever sung before.
         Even in my dreams,
         I never thought I would get this far.
In just a few seconds,
         I float back to the ground,
         back to reality
         now without song.
I leave feeling confident,
         after facing one of my greatest fears,
         and I think,
I think to myself whether I get in doesn’t matter
        because I found the courage somewhere inside of me
        to get up and perform
        and I am happy because you need courage
        to do almost anything.
Life is full of highs and lows,
       weightlessness and floating down,
       just as I had felt before.
Sometimes you will find yourself without a song to sing
      and you’ve got to have that courage to fear,
      to stand, speak, and improvise
      to laugh, cry, believe and love.
Because that’s what life is,
      just an audition.