Ringling Down the Curtain
The Greatest Show on Earth is gone;
The circus tents are down.
The show, this time, will NOT go on;
It’s pulled up stakes—left town.
The lions, tigers, elephants
Will shortly take a trip;
They’re set to have a second chance,
Away from prod and whip.
The three-eyed man, the hairy freak,
The dwarf, the over-sized,
They now have other routes to seek,
No longer patronized.
Still, showbiz folk have fertile brains,
And greed will fuel the pace.
The Big Top leaves, but as it wanes,
Just what will take its place?
Mae Scanlan can’t remember a time when she didn’t write humorous verse. Happily, she’s managed to get a fair amount of it published, in both the U.S. and the U.K. Her other addictions are song writing, photography, and The Washington Post’s Style Invitational.