Freak Show
The Ring Master:
Don’t be afraid of the freak show
It exists for your relief
At being safe
from this
defect;
This spell of madness and despair
Is spared you
Don’t be too assured
That horror will not come.
The freak, the freak is here on show
But your despair is hidden
And in the closet dungeon
It will only stir when bidden
Shhhhh the freak show
Shhh the freak
Do not let it ever
Speak.
It must not call to you by name
Inside its cage it must remain
But you will pay the price to stare
And hurriedly flee in the cooling air.
Its chill is gone but the memory’s there
The freak still lives as you pass on.
Does one gaze linger when the day is done?
Off with the freak show
Off with its head
Only the perfect are raised from the dead.
Bring me the wonderful
Bring me a date
Bring me the freak on a spike from the gate
We must be beautiful
we must be free
Speak to me never of the freak in me.
Fear and loathing
Fear and pain
These are the items on the list of shame
Who will cross them one by one
Off the agenda
Till their day is done?
Who will look them in the eye
And feel their sorrow
As the world walks by
Come to me master
Come to my show
Only you can understand
How all the lines go.
You in the subtext
You in the stall
You in the balcony
You in the hall.
Come to the freak show
Come and hear me speak
All of me is up for view
But only you will weep.
June 6th 2012
Wow Sarah, that is an incredibly powerful poem. Thank you SO much for sharing it with us! It speaks to me of the parts of me that I fear will be viewed by others as freakish. Interestingly, these parts of me are probably the most authentic and vulnerable parts of who I am. Something for me to chew on.
Off with the freak show
Off with its head
Only the perfect are raised from the dead.
WONDERFUL. This is a great mirror game – who is a freak, the freak made whole – and then indeed only the perfect are raised from the dead. The skill in the poem is what it doesn't say, a silent hymn to redemption…