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 Were always done in such a hurry And please, remember me that Halloween 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 Calling passers-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 Aside 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 their running In circles around the well and where it spells On the wall behind St. Peter So bright, on 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 turned from me And said, "The trapeze act was wonderful But never meant to last", the clown that passed Saw me just come up with anger When it filled with 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 kissing on a sinner A monkey and a man, a marching band All around a frightened trapeze swinger