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JerryPat2
Member Laureate

since 2011-02-06

Posts 16975
South Louisiana

0 posted 2011-05-04 07:41 AM

I cavort around in over-sized shoes,
Stumble and fall for the hysterical all,
Give them my tear-streaked clowns face,
Making them laugh with glee and joy.

This broken-down heart inside of me,
Hopes the laughter is not a one-night stand,
If that would ever happen they would see,
These tears on my face were real all along.

My painted-on laughing face is a farce,
I can't laugh, but that doesn't mean you can't.
As the circus plays these backwater towns,
My aim is to bring laughter, never gloom.

My heart almost smiles when a young girl giggles,
And that freckle-faced, tousled-headed boy grins.
Hysterical laughter when I nail my shoe to the floor
Makes me want to keep going year after year.

Although I'm sad on the inside I like to spread joy,
It's such a small comfort to bring about cheer,
To know that for a moment life's troubles are gone,
It's all I need of life, to be the bringer of mirth.

I hope I'll never become an uncaring soul,
To not feel a glad inside as I humor a child.
Eyes bright and shiny with tears from my antics,
Clapping with happiness at my next belly-flop.

It isn't only the children who love my act,
Grandpa's and grandma's fall back to their childhood.
Even the old have some of the child within,
The gumless mouths sometimes laugh the hardest.

Never shall I fail to forget my mission in life,
Causing people to laugh, letting it all hang out.
The nasties of life is forgotten when the clown
Turn the fire hose on those crazy Keystone Cops.

When the Big Top comes down for the last time,
And my clowns' face is removed by creams and lotions,
I'd like to be able to hear before I go,
You were a good clown old son; you have earned your rest.

~ I went to a restaurant that serves "breakfast at any time" / I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance. ~

Lori Grosser Rhoden
Member Patricius

since 2009-10-10

Posts 10202
Fair to middlin' of nowhere

1 posted 2011-05-04 08:22 AM

Jerry this is much deeper than it would first appear. You have done well to capture the face we all can paint on ourselves. I can relate to the smiling on the outside crying on the inside.
Lori

JerryPat2
Member Laureate

since 2011-02-06

Posts 16975
South Louisiana

2 posted 2011-05-04 08:31 AM

Thank you so much, Lori. We all wear masks from time to time, whether we admit it or not. Masks are for hiding away somewhere and still being able to make it through the day.

~ I went to a restaurant that serves "breakfast at any time" / I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance. ~

dreamgal
Member

since 2011-03-17

Posts 442

3 posted 2011-05-04 08:43 AM

Oh i really liked this. Your on a roll lately with these clown poems. Enjoyed!

Dreamgal

JerryPat2
Member Laureate

since 2011-02-06

Posts 16975
South Louisiana

4 posted 2011-05-04 09:13 AM

Appreciate you nice words about the poem, Dreamgal. I have always been fascinated by clowns. And masks. They go together.

~ I went to a restaurant that serves "breakfast at any time" / I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance. ~

JamesMichael
Member Empyrean

since 1999-11-16

Posts 33336
Kapolei, Hawaii, USA

5 posted 2011-05-08 12:21 PM

Very nice...James

2islander2
Member Ascendant

since 2008-03-12

Posts 6825
by the sea

6 posted 2011-05-08 04:42 AM

hi jerry you make clowns precious, and they are even in real life elsewhere that circus, thanks for the superb and sensitive poem.

yann

JerryPat2
Member Laureate

since 2011-02-06

Posts 16975
South Louisiana

7 posted 2011-05-08 07:06 AM

Appreciate it, James.

Nice of you to say, yann, thank you . . .

~ Logical argument is what destroys poetry because poetry is beyond logic.—Robert Graves ~

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