and all the world a stage

A scene, an act, a stage
Awaiting chosen or random players
Anticipating the moment to engage
Yours (or another's) passing prayer
It is as you like it
Whatever you choose to understand
Times soothing impermanent drift
Or the caress of the fatal hand
The briefest scene
A slumbering dream
All shadows are one
We shall pass by and be gone

for all we know