Woman in the Wings - Maddy Prior

She watches anxiously

Helpless to protect

The girl in the goldfish bowl of light

The jigging marionette

And the woman in the wings

She worries when she sings out of key

The dancer as she twirls

Oblivious and calm

With tossed curls and swirls

She will face any storm

But the woman in the wings

She fidgets with her rings and wrings her hands

The puppet on the stage

Elusive and calm

Buttered and bruised

She collapses in the arms

Of the woman in the wings

Who gently takes the strings, leads her away

To a private dressing dressing room

She takes the doll apart

And packs her away in the wardrobe

Til the next show starts

Then the woman in the wings

Collects up all her things and goes home