Page:Main Street and other poems, Kilmer, 1917.djvu/63

MAIN STREET AND OTHER POEMS

THE BIG TOP (continued) To the circling crowd who laugh aloud and clap hands with a will

As a tribute to the clown who won the great wheel-barrow race.

Now, one shall work in the living rock with a mallet and a knife,

And another shall dance on a big white horse that canters round a ring,

By another's hand shall colours stand in similitude of life;

And the hearts of the three shall be moved by one mysterious high thing.

For the sculptor and the acrobat and the painter are the same.

They know one hope, one fear, one pride, one sorrow and one mirth,

And they take delight in the endless fight for the fickle world's acclaim;

For they worship art above the clouds and serve her on the earth.

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