this circus

this circus.
this clown car full of clowns.
this big top
with elephants as large
as any
problem
on the table.
this smell of cigars
and straw.
the stench of life,
of loss,
of gain.
of unhappy happiness.
this circus come to town,

what part
have we in all of it,
to fly from a cannon,
wobble from a high wire,
to sit
like the hunger artist
in an iron cage?