best to leave as soon as the show begins

From behind, standing, from a distance, 

in passing, the taxi meter running, 

I'd watch her, I'd watch her hair, 

and what would I see? My stubborn theatre, 

curtain won't fall, my always-open theatre . . . 

Best to leave as soon as the show begins. 

 

[Patrizia Cavalli {1949-2022} [From behind, standing, from a distance], translated from the Italian by Geoffrey Brock, in Poetry (December 2007)]