The Right Regrets (SMASH Cast Version)

A writer has the empty page
Where he can set the scene
He puts the actors on the stage
Or on the movie screen.

The characters all say the words
The writer wants to hear
And then, my friend
A happy end.

But when the writer steps outside
That room where he is king
He can't control when lives collide
Or what the lovers sing.

And so he hides behind his words
The one place he belongs
And in black and white
He can rewrite the wrongs.

Where he can find the strength to say
What those he loves should hear
And just erase mistakes she's made
Then make them disappear.

Where he can change the plot
So he's a hero, not a louse
And when the curtain falls
There's not a dry eye in the house.

A writer hopes to leave behind
A work no one forgets
And when he writes, "the end"
To find he has the right regrets.

A writer has the empty page
Where he can use his pen
To mend his heart
And try to start
Again.