Mark Pirie

poet - writer - editor - publisher

Elvis laughed on stage:
another mask to hide the truth.

He was dying slowly,
not just inside, or his singing.

Elvis laughed on stage
and people cheered, clapped and joined in.

No one new the reasons.
Elvis joked about the world’s a stage

He was an actor, a great pretender.
Sad ol’ Elvis, he was gonna change and get fit.

At Gracelands, the night before he left us,
he got out his racquets for a game.

Soon he’d be starting his tour.
He’d get fit, enjoy life, get back to his best

like when he was an ol’ hound dog
wanting to be a cuddly Teddy Bear,

live in people’s dreams, and
Love tender, not return to sender.

No, he was a lion, and lions weren’t loved;
and he was a tiger, his body defeating him.

But he didn’t want to be a tiger or a lion,
just a Teddy Bear, a guitar man who sings; loves.