Within the cowboy's van the rat-eyed wife, Her reddish hair in papers twisted close. Turned wet potatoes round against the knife, And in a bucket dropped the peelèd Oes. Within the cowboy's van the rat-eyed wife, Her reddish hair in papers twisted close. Turned wet potatoes round against the knife, And in a bucket dropped the peelèd Oes. [Pg 12] [Pg 12] [Pg 13] [Pg 13] Seeds from the hayrack blew about the place, The smoke out of the waggon chimneys blew, From wicker creel the skinny cockerel crew. The men who set the floundered axle straight Glanced at their chief, and each man nudged his mate. And one, the second clown, a snub-nosed youth, Fair-haired, with broken teeth, discoloured black, Muttered, "He looks a treat, and that's the truth. I've had enough: I've given him the sack." He took his wrench, arose, and stretched his back, Swore at a piebald pony trying to bite, And rolled a cigarette and begged a light. Within, the second's wife, who leaped the hoops, Nursed sour twins, her son and jealousy, Thinking of love, in luckier, happier troupes Known on the roads in summers now gone by Before her husband had a roving eye, Before the rat-eyed baggage with red hair [Pg 14]Came to do tight rope and make trouble there. Beside the vans, the clown, old Circus John, Growled to the juggler as he sucked his briar, "How all the marrow of a show was gone Since women came, to sing and walk the wire, Killing the clown his act for half his hire, Killing the circus trade: because," said he, "Horses and us are what men want to see." The juggler was a young man shaven-clean, Even in the mud his dainty way he had, Red-cheeked, with eyes like boxer's, quick and keen, A jockey-looking youth with legs besprad, Humming in baritone a ditty sad, And tapping on his teeth his finger-nails, The while the clown suckt pipe and spat his tales. Molly, the singer, watched him wearily With big black eyes that love had brimmed with tears, Her mop of short cut hair was blown awry, Her firm mouth shewed her wiser than her years. [Pg 15]She stroked a piebald horse and pulled his ears, And kissed his muzzle, while her eyes betrayed This, that she loved the juggler, not the jade. And growling in a group the music stood Sucking short pipes, their backs against the rain, Plotting rebellion in a bitter mood, "A shilling more, or never play again." Their old great coats were foul with many a stain,
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