The Circus Clown Has Just Passed Away

By Reggie Miles © 2014 All rights reserved

The circus clown has just passed away
Was he in the wrong place on that fateful day?
Clownin round in some sleezy cabaret
Drownin his troubles in cheap cabernet
Drownin in cheap cabernet

He wasn't stickin his head near the lion's ferocious bite
That's the lion tamer's greatest delight
He wasn't swingin so high way up in the air
Like the man on the flyin trapeze would dare
Swingin so high in the air

He wasn't tryin to swallow too many swords
As the daredevil had done so often before
He wasn't tossin round razor sharp machete blades
Like the juggler loved doin without any aid
Riskin it all on a blade

He wasn't liftin a thousand pounds of steel
Like the strongman could do with such vigor and zeal
He wasn't walkin a tightrope without a net
Like all the funambulaters that he had met
Who pirouette their high wire minuet

He wasn't takin a walk with his tiny pet mouse
Too close to the circus elephant's house
Which caused a stampede of pachyderms
That squashed him to jelly, flat as a worm
A pachyderm clown pancake confirmed

He wasn't nappin in the fat lady's bed till late
As she came home early with her red hot date
And hopped in the sack with the Siamese twins
Grease paint would've been all that remained of him
A stain on the sheets oh so grim

He wasn't launched from a cannon, over the crowd
With an earsplitting explosion so very loud
And set soaring skyward through smoke and cloud
Like the human cannonball had always wowed
He vowed never to be so very proud

He wasn't racin a steed through fiery rings
Or doin a multitude of other circusy things
Like wrestlin crocodiles with his bare hands
Or playin subcontra tuba with the circus band
Groovin a tune with the band

He wasn't balancin an aardvark on the tip of his nose
Hula hoopin while unicyclin and recitin prose
He wasn't twistin balloon animals for the tattooed lady
Or doin anything anyone would consider shady
Oh but how he loved those tattooed ladies

He was just workin one liners with a friend at the bar
Sharin a drink with a fellow circus star
When, there, in the doorway, stood a man with a gun
That's no way to go for a clown so young
For a clown who was so very young

The clown asked, with a smile, have you bullets in there?
Or are ya just shootin blanks? But the man only stared
Then, without a word, he emptied his gun
And that was the end of the clown and his fun
The end of the clown and his fun

Life is as fragile as one-ply toilet paper
You can wipe yourself with it but you might regret it later
Live your dreams while you can with love and with grace
There's no tellin when you'll be starin death in the face
Live your dreams with love and with grace