stAge Fright Edit 2.0 Thanks to all who helped.

[Grace]

Say what you wish, now we're alone
inside our common dread;
I will not speak or criticise.
The time we squeeze
between warm palms
must not slip free to run like sand
through clapping hands,
still hot with praise
and swollen red.
I say so little anymore,
of consequence or worth.
Since youth bowed out
--exit stage left--
and credence left on cue,
this play has gone
from bad to worse.

tectak
2012

I think this edit is good. I like the image of holding time in a handshake in fear of it slipping free "to run like sand". The line "inside our common dread" draws the reader to connect with the title, so I think works well. Grace.