Cirkus (Live in Mexico, July 2017)

Night, her sable dome, scattered with diamonds
Fused my dust from a light year
Squeezed me to her breast, sowed me with carbon
Strung my warp across time

Gave me each horse, sunrise and graveyard
Told me only I was her
Bid me, face the east, closed me in questions
Built the sky for my dawn

Cleaned my feet of mud, followed the empty
Zebra ride to the circus
Past a painted cage, spoke to the pay box
Glove which wrote on my tongue

Pushed me down a slide to the arena
Megaphonium fanfare
In his cloak of words strode the ringmaster
Bid me join the parade

"Worship", cried the clown, "I am a TV
Making bandsmen go clockwork"
See the slinky seal circus policeman
Bareback ladies have fish

Strongmen by his feet, plate-spinning statesman
Accrobatically juggling
Bids his tamers go quiet the tumblers
Lest the mirror stop turning

Elephants forgot, force-fed on stale chalk
Ate the floors of their cages
Strongmen lost their hair, pay box collapsed
Lions sharpened their teeth

Gloves raced round the ring, stallions stampeded
Pandemonium seesaw
I ran for the door, ringmaster shouted
"All the fun of the circus"