JUGGLER, JUGGLER

Juggler, juggler,

How do you manage?

How do you keep

The balls

       Plates

            Boxes

                 Knives

                      Torches

How do you keep

All those objects,

Sometimes dangerous,
Sometimes silly-

In the air

All at once,

        All the time

You are on stage?

I juggle too,

My specialty

Is keeping aloft

Expectations:

        The man I was

               The man I am

And whatever I will be

           Peoples’ perceptions\,

                 And their agendas,

                          And my own agendas ;

And I don’t always do so well.

I’ve been on stage so long

And I have gotten so old…

                  And tired.

If I miss,

All my juggling

Comes crashing down

On my head,

       On my heart.

And that will hurt-

Badly,

Because I juggle

With objects

Keener by far

Than any you work with,

Cut more surely

        Painfully

             Completely

Even if you can’t see me bleed

Chip Bergeron

11 October 2012