High on a wire   Poised for an imminent fall   Clowns always smile   Greasepaint and lust in their pores   Start to sway and I hold your hand   Fall, the smile surrounds his head   Hot ashes, clay   Hot ashes fade   To lean, to err, too far along for me   To wait around, to smile is to accept   In center ring   Rolling in sawdust and hay   Covered in paint   Damn everything but the circus   Damn the men and the women who stare   At the freaks in the cages and snares   Hot ashes, clay   Hot ashes fade   To win, to err, to fall too far for safety   To lean, to wait a while is too easy   To lean towards, to fall too far for me   To wait a while around is too easy   To lean too long, to fall too far for safety   To seem to smile, to lie is to accept