  Oh, hurry! hurry! here they come, The band in front with the big bass drum And blaring bugles,—there they are, On golden thrones in a golden car, Tooting and fluting, oh, how grand! Hi diddle, diddle! The fife and the fiddle! Hurrah, hurrah for the circus band! And the red-plumed horses, oh, see them prance And daintily lift their hoofs and dance, While beautiful ladies with golden curls Are jingling their bridles of gold and pearls, And close behind Come every kind Of animal cages great and small, O how I wonder what's in them all! Here's one that's open and glaring there Is the shaggiest snow-white polar bear! Woof! but I wonder what we'd do If his bars broke loose right now, don't you? And O dear me! Just look and see That pink-cheeked lady in skirts of gauze And the great big lion with folded paws! O me! O my! I'm glad that I Am not in that lion's cage, because Suppose he'd open his horrible jaws! —But look! the clown is coming! Of course Facing the tail of a spotted horse And shouting out things to make folks laugh, And grinning up at the tall giraffe That placidly paces along and looks Just like giraffes in the picture-books! And there are the elephants, two and two, Lumbering on as they always do! The men who lead them look so small I wonder the elephants mind at all As they wag their queer Long trunks, and peer Through their beady eyes,—folks say they know No end of things, and I'm sure it's so! And you never must do a thing that's bad Or that possibly might make an elephant mad, For he'll never forgive you, it appears, And will punish you sure, if it takes him years! So do not stare But take good care To mind your manners, and always try To smile politely as they go by! But the camels don't care if you laugh at them With their bumpy humps like a capital M, They lurch and sway And seem to say, As they wrinkle their noses, long and gray, "This swaggering stride is quite the plan, It's the way we walked in the caravan!" And now more cages come rumbling by With glittering people throned on high; So many spangles and precious things, They surely must all be queens and kings! They look so proud Above the crowd, O my, how fine it must feel to ride On golden wagons that hide inside Strange animals caught in cannibal isles And brought in ships for a million miles! The end, for hear That sudden screeching in piercing key! The steaming, screaming cal-li-o-pe! Just plain pianos sound terribly tame Beside this one with the wonderful name, And wouldn't you love some day to sit In a circus wagon and play on it? |
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