Will we know when we are beginning
to reach the end of pretend?
Time to scrap the scrap books
full of the faded memories
of long-ago enactments of loveliness
and stories of sorrow too,
will we be able to face

letting go, will we be able
to give up last illusions
having gone the distance
and come to the end of the road
with all of the other loved actors
and lovers of pretending,
will we, will we, let go too?