The Legendary Performer

What are the ingredients of a "Legendary Performer"?
How does one get so great to deserve this honor?
Could it be sheer luck or does it take more
To have this "star" on the dressing room door?

It takes much more than being an entertainer
And putting in your pocket a big retainer,
To assure your appearance at a show
When the curtain goes up and the lights go down low.

Of course, it matters what you can do
In front of an audience of many or few.
But it takes much more, at times even pain,
If the title of "Legendary Performer" you wish to attain.

You have to be a humanitarian and care for your fellow
Whether he lives next door or in a foreign land.
You can't step on people on the way to the top,
For the way up is slow, the way down is a quick drop.

You must be a master and have the strength of thunder
Because you can't afford to make a blunder.
You must be intelligent, clever and sharp,
It requires being inventive and skilled in your art.

You must be unique at work and play,
And at all times be careful of what you do and say.
You attitude to all must be the same,
Regardless of their position or their name.

A "Legendary Performer" is so very rare,
For with him, there must be nothing to compare.
There has only been one who could fill this position
That had the carriage and courage to make the transition

From a young, poverty stricken, gangling lad,
Whose life at times, was so very sad
To one so humble, so kind, so appreciative and sweet
That at anytime we would gladly have knelt at his feet.

He was not one to ever be a conformer,
ELVIS PRESLEY,
is the only one who can classify as a
"Legendary Performer"

  ©Joan Buchanan West

ELVIS: 1935-NEVER