[for Emmett Kelly]
I had a dream: Emmett Kelly was sweeping up the light
and never finishing,
staying up all night
still losing his job
or the circus in town and then it's all in flames
and it's raining Emmett Kelly's tears
for years and years.
give us the sad clown, the children cheer
the American Pagliacci murmur no critics
world weary, bleary. you're still here, The Clown of Depths?
hobo, jester skiing the rails of silence
almost making the train
bearing the cross again some would say
resembling the clowns of Roualt or I say
that tale in the fairybook, remember?
the unaccountable tossing of the golden apples
into the weeping hereafter.
amid uncomprehending laughter
sliding down the glass hills.
mary angela douglas 20 december 2018;rev. 17 january 2019
I had a dream: Emmett Kelly was sweeping up the light
and never finishing,
staying up all night
still losing his job
or the circus in town and then it's all in flames
and it's raining Emmett Kelly's tears
for years and years.
give us the sad clown, the children cheer
the American Pagliacci murmur no critics
world weary, bleary. you're still here, The Clown of Depths?
hobo, jester skiing the rails of silence
almost making the train
bearing the cross again some would say
resembling the clowns of Roualt or I say
that tale in the fairybook, remember?
the unaccountable tossing of the golden apples
into the weeping hereafter.
amid uncomprehending laughter
sliding down the glass hills.
mary angela douglas 20 december 2018;rev. 17 january 2019
