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I. SIDE SHOW
HER scant skirt spreads above her knees. | |
| Her hands lie folded in her lap. | |
| She looks ahead, and does not shrink | |
| To see the mixed crowd nudge and gape, | |
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| While dirty men with roving eyes | 5 |
| Press close and whisper, “Look! | |
| Tattooed wherever you can see! | |
| Say, she’s a walkin’ pitcher-book!” | |
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| Madonna pricked upon her back | |
| Complacently she lets them view, | 10 |
| And on the calf of one bare leg, | |
| Christ crucified—tattooed in blue. | |
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II. GRAND ENTRY
Monsters in trousers baggy and grey, | |
| With harness of scarlet and brass, | |
| Trunk looped to tail in rhythmic array— | 15 |
| A frieze on a temple of Asia—pass | |
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| Solemnly round the tan-bark track. | |
| The breasts of the sulky girl in red | |
| Perched on the leading elephant’s back, | |
| Shake to the lurch of his ponderous tread. | 20 |
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| Then follows a bamboo palanquin, | |
| Borne by the camels’ shambling strength. | |
| The fringes slap as, jolted within, | |
| A tawdry sultana reclines at full length. | |
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| Forty dull clowns hobble awkwardly by. | 25 |
| “Hey! That’s my mother!” one leers. | |
| He points at the charmer, and then at his eye, | |
| And grins through his painted black tears. | |
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III. RING-MASTER
Tethered to the canvas top | |
| Undulating shadows writhe— | 30 |
| Snaky flags that seem alive. | |
| “What an awful way to drop! | |
| Look how high it is up there.” | |
| —“Shucks! They never get a fall.” | |
| “Who’s that man-in glossy black | 35 |
| Satin knee-pants, and the coat | |
| Red as pepper, on his back?” | |
| —“He’s Ring-Master. Hear um bawl, | |
| ‘All eyes on the center ring! | |
| Attention, please! Attention all!’” | 40 |
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IV. THE WATCHER AT THE ROPES
Stretching her toes until they kiss | |
| The dizzy roof on her upward swing, | |
| Blindfolded, Marie makes a spring | |
| In faultless curve above the abyss. | |
| The man on another frail trapeze, | 45 |
| Clipping the bar with supple knees, | |
| Catches her ankles. The nervous crowd | |
| Closes its eyes or gasps aloud, | |
| Watching from very far below, | |
| Hypnotized, as to and fro, | 50 |
| The pendulum swings, till they leap apart. | |
| A mother’s hand goes to her heart. | |
| A boy in uniform shouts or drones, | |
| “Soda-pop, candy and ice-cream cones!” | |
| Attendants slouch by the ropes and wait. | 55 |
| Unseen among them, watches Fate— | |
| His lips move, counting—his deep eyes stare | |
Upward at Marie, Queen of the Air.
Reedy’s Mirror | |
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