THE PROMISE OF THE CIRCUS song lyrics
by Joel Sattler

[based on pages 332-333 of "Living to Tell the Tale" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez]

Emilio Razzore
came to us in Cartagena
to prep for the performance
of his family circus

it had left Havana
just the week before
on the steamship Euskera
and knocked upon my door

he boasted he had been
before he had been born
taming the wild animals
that's why his back was torn

the lions were his sisters
his brother was the bear
he ruled the center ring with love
his heart and soul were there

he promised me that I would see
the tigers in their privacy
he held my hand and gave to me
a future bound in secrecy

a friend he tried to warn me
he told me of his crime
helpless when you see the clowns
cry for the first time

the big top only can be your's
for a single night
when you awake you will regret
your fate in the first light

we sang and danced and told our tales
and stayed up oh so late
but the next day next week next month
the steamship was so late

it never came into the port
it never did return
whatever happened to it
we never ever learned

the circus had just disappeared
the lions must have drowned
the sea it swallowed all our tears
the ship was never found

Emilio got up off the floor
and said I'll go up New York
I'll build a circus from ground up
I never will give up

and when I do I'll send for you
for you are my best friend
he left at dawn and he was gone
I never heard from him again.....


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