Ridicule is most painful when
The joker and the joke are
One and the same.
Confessing a weakness
In every action:
This terrible self-parody,
An unintended act
By a clown who cannot cry.
Intaken air sometimes brings
The world in with it,
A punchline to the ribs
Released as a foolish whisper.
Death is full of ill-humour and,
No,
Even the jester will not die laughing.
If the gallows man knows this gag
He’s not letting on
As he tightens the tie at his neck.
The crowd knows what follows
And herein lies
The predictability of a limerick life.
Cartoon cats never catch the bird,
While the coyote detonates
Himself
Yet again;
Did they write the script?
Self-contained comic stripped
Of dignity by the second page,
Stapled and folded over
Upon itself;
Apparently quite popular
With the condemned.
Tragic comedy
Is the dead man’s gift;
An artistic sacrifice without reward
Except for the comfort
Of soliloquy.