The troupe’s bravura sets us all on edge
and holds us captive to our fear of death;
we’re pinned, white-knuckled, clinging to our seats:
can’t bear to watch, can’t bear to look away.
The clowns invite us to a different world,
beyond the tyranny of mortal dread;
unfazed by failure, circumstance or death
they bumble, stumble, fall, and rise again.
Like Keaton’s Saphead, Charlie Chaplin’s Tramp,
and Tank Man, silent at Tiananmen;
like Laurence with his “treasures of the Church”
and Jesus with his parody parade;
such wacky wisdom stuns the worldly-wise
who rule by death because the dead don't rise.
© the Revd Jim McPherson
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