Exit the Clown

Once I played your wistful clown

In the greatest show on earth

Highwire jester full of merriment and mirth

But it wasn’t long before the tents came down

With the trapeze wires and the show left town.

Painted face, and orange, frizzy wig

I danced the Macarena and the Jig

And carried colorful balloons around.

In my Big-Top world accolades did not redound

When my jester jalopy jerked, hissed, and banged

Or I told slapstick jokes and sang –
Always a smile covering only a frown –

And the song I sang echoed nowhere bound.

Baggy pants, pointed hat, shoes too long for feet,

Red rubber nose, my masquerade complete

I did cartwheels in a sad defeat

When I played your melancholy clown.