Each season he invests more in his make-up,
his painted smile and laughing eyes must hold
the curtains open, the tent from being sold,
the ending back and then the awkward break-up.
His floppy shoes will serve him one more season,
the sawdust from the ring has made them grooved,
but soon he'll kick them off and then he'll ease in
the years in which he'll recollect he moved
in strides he took haphazardly -- no reason
was in a world of which no world approved.