The Braveness Of A Circus Clown Poem by Herbert Nehrlich

A Chinaman, who, new in town
was working as a circus clown.
One day he saw on the trapeze
a muscled woman named Louise.

To show her that he was no coward
he called his colleague, (name was Howard)
and told him that he'd climb the rope
that courage would bestow some hope.

And so he climbed until he stood
next to Louise. He said he would
now be an artist of the air
to which she answered 'I don't care,

you are an ugly little clown
so get your boring body down! '
As you can guess, her words had shattered
all his brave thoughts, the hope that mattered

and in the blink of a clown's eye
he whispered quickly his good bye.
Jumped off the swing headfirst and fell
into the cage of Annabelle.

This creature was, please do not laugh,
a rather tall and pink Giraffe.
He happened to cling to her neck
and slid, while thinking 'what the heck? '

down to the animal's soft skin,
then landed with a silly grin
inside the hamper stuffed with hay
to his surprise he was okay.

Meanwhile, Louise, who couldn't care,
had craned her neck, begun to stare,
she lost her balance now and dropped
until she was, quite roughly, stopped

by Ben, the Hippo's giant jaws,
there first was silence, then a pause
as all the folks expected worse
and someone yelled a heartfelt curse.

The Hippo though had left adventures
back in the jungle, now wore dentures.
He would have liked to eat Louise
but, with arthritis in his knees

and utterly disgusting bunions
he now preferred sautéed green onions.
And, being gentle at his age
he bowed toward the silent stage

and set Louise down on the ground
right in the soft and steaming mound
of Hippo droppings where she stayed
her face a mess, her mind dismayed.

The clown had learned a lesson here,
rejected love defeats your fear
but choose, before your very end
giraffe or hippo as your friend.