He was not born with stature or status
Not for glory, not for hire
With his own unusual verve
Through his life he walked high above us
On a wire, on a wire
Stretched out like a nerve

Look, he walks in plain sight,
with no safety at all!
Just a tilt to the right -
he will die in a fall

To the left should he slide - do not bother to pray
But calm down! He just needs to stay
For four quarters of the way

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 

And the spotlights were breaking his tempo
And like laurels needled along
The tuba was waking the dead
He was deafened by the shouts "bravo"
And the gong, and the gong
Like a thunderbolt in his head!

Look, he walks in plain sight,
with no safety at all!
Just a tilt to the right -
he will die in a fall

To the left should he slide - do not bother to pray
But calm down! He just needs to stay
For mere three quarters of the way

Ah, how scary, how charming, how daring
Just three minutes to resolution!
At this battle with death gaping wide
From the stands they were dismally staring -
Lilliputians, Lilliputians
They appear to him from the height

Look, he walks in plain sight,
with no safety at all!
Just a tilt to the right -
he will die in a fall

To the left should he slide - do not bother to pray
But don’t panic! He just needs to stay
For another two quarters of the way

He laughed at the fleeting renown
But aimed to be always the first
That sort is as tough as they come!
Tough as nails, right over the crowd
On the nerves, upon our nerves
He walked to the rolling drum!

Look, he walks in plain sight,
with no safety at all!
Just a tilt to the right -
he will die in a fall

To the left should he slide - do not bother to pray
But calm down! He just needs to stay
For a mere one quarter of the way

To the screams circus tigers reacted
On the stretcher placing paw tips
But his sentence was ruthless and plain
Overconfident or may be distracted
In the wood chips, in the wood chips
He spilled his blood and his pain!

But today, someone else,
with no safety at all!
A thin cord underneath -
he could die in a fall

Right or left should he sway - and for this one don’t pray
But he too badly needs for some reason to stay
And walk four quarters of the way