The Tightrope Walker

Barker: Step right up! You’ll be amazed
at the Tightrope Walker’s lack of grace.

The Tightrope Walker:

Have you ever felt your mind slip?
Ever almost taken a quick flip
over the edge of stable?
Were you able
to regain your balance?
Did your perception make allowance
for what it was losing fast?
And if it did, did it last?

That's what I do every time
I step on to the high, tight line.
I make it look like a game.
Barker: You’ll be certain she’s insane!
Tightrope Walker:

I twirl through the air
like a mad dervish set a-spin
by a whirly gig second wind.
Barker: She defies the imagination!
She really is a vision!
Midway Boss: It's no use saying a word about it
she will not accept
the good sense of a net.
Tightrope Walker: Even the Midway Boss pointed out
that while she saw what I was about,
she had serious doubts
I'd be more to her dead than alive.

I’m twenty-five.
Kind of old to be pulling such tricks.
In spite of the fact that I’m used to it
I simply don't have the skills.
If I don't at this point, I never will
be light as a feather or on my toes.
But I keep on taking an anything goes approach.

I never look afraid at all.
I leap across the high, thin line,
turning cartwheels all the time,
then flip backwards so quickly everyone says
it's a miracle I don't fall on my head.
Instead I somehow walk the line.
Midway Boss:

It's just a matter of time
before you lose your mind.

Tightrope Walker:

Have you ever felt your mind slip?
Ever almost taken a quick flip
over the edge of stable?
Were you able
to regain your balance?
Did your perception make allowance
for what it was losing fast?
And if it did, did it last?