When The Circus Comes Around

Everybody’s mighty wealthy,

     Hoppin’, skippin’ with a bound;

‘Pear to be most awful healthy

     When the circus comes around.

Pa an’ ma an’ sis an’ brother,

     Likes o’ them wuz never found;

Life looks diff’unt some way nuther,

     When the circus comes around.

Circuses can’t stay forever,

     Comes a dark an’ gloomy day,

When the golden cords mus’ sever,

     When the circus goes away.

Everybody’s sad an’ lumpy,

     Life hez lost its bright array;

Everybody’s poor an’ grumpy

     When the circus goes away.

                                  Joe Cone

May 18, 1900

B. Courier, June

30, ‘00