The Trapeze Swinger Lyrics

The Trapeze Swinger

please remember me, happily 

by the rosebush laughing 

with bruises on my chin, the time when 

we counted every black car passing 

your house beneath the hill, and up until 

someone caught us in the kitchen 

with maps, a mountain range, a piggy bank 

a vision too removed to mention



but please remember me, fondly 

i heard from someone you're still pretty 

and then they went on to say that the Pearly Gates 

had some eloquent graffiti 

like: “we'll meet again� and “fuck the Man� 

and “tell my mother not to worry� 

and angels with their great handshakes 

but always done in such a hurry 



and please remember me, at Hallowe’en 

making fools of all the neighbors 

our faces painted white, by midnight 

we'd forgotten one another 

and when the morning came i was ashamed 

only now it seems so silly 

that season left the world and then returned 

and now you're lit up by the city 



so please remember me, mistakenly 

in the window of the tallest tower 

call, then pass us by, but much too high 

to see the empty road at happy hour 

gleam and resonate just like the gates 

around the Holy Kingdom 

with words like: “lost and found� and “don't look down�


and “someone save temptation� 



and please remember me as in the dream 

we had as rug-burned babies 

among the fallen trees and fast asleep 

beside the lions and the ladies 

that called you what you like and even might 

give a gift for your behavior: 

a fleeting chance to see a trapeze- 

swinger high as any savior 



but please remember me, my misery 

and how it lost me all i wanted 

those dogs that love the rain, and chasing trains 

the colored birds above there running 

in circles round the well, and where it spells 

on the wall behind St. Peter's 

so bright with cinder gray in spray paint: 

“who the hell can see forever?� 



and please remember me, seldomly 

in the car behind the carnival 

my hand between your knees, you turn from me 

and said the trapeze act was wonderful 

but never meant to last, the clowns that passed 

saw me just come up with anger 

when it filled the circus dogs, the parking lot 

had an element of danger 



so please remember me, finally 

and all my uphill clawing 

my dear, but if i make the Pearly Gates 

i’ll do my best to make a drawing 

of God and Lucifer, a boy and girl 

an angel kissin’ on a sinner 

a monkey and a man, a marching band 

all around the frightened trapeze-swinger



nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah …