(story about a disgraced banker who goes on the run disguised as a female clown ,he joins a large circus. along with his parents,He carries a pot plant that reminds him of the banker he once was and of the clown he now is but the plant is sick and dying-enter the dark shaman) The Banker, The Lady Clown, and The Dark Shaman(Verse 1 - The Clown's Flight)I wear big red shoes and a painted face,Running away from a prison chase.The vault is empty, the markets fell,And I traded my ledger for a circus hell.Tonight I sneaked past the tent and the wire,Away from the hoops and the swallowing fire.In my trembling hands is a dying green stem,Drowning in tears like the rest of them.(Verse 2 - Entering the Woods)Five hundred strong in my traveling troupe,But I’m just a ghost in a spinning hoop.Mama and Papa and little old me,We are tiny leaves on a broken tree.I stumbled through shadows to the edge of the town,A sad, heavy banker in the clothes of a clown.I knocked on a door where the smoke started curl,Far away from the cheers of the ringmaster's world.(Verse 3 - Enter the Doctor)“Knock knock… Who deh?” a dark voice call,No fancy diploma hang up pon wall.The Shaman step out in a robe of pure black,With strange little bottles and a bird on him back.He look at my paint, then he look at my pot,He say, “Rasclat, big man, tell mi wah yuh got?Yuh bring mi a weed that look weary and sad,But the man holding the dirt look twice as bad!”(Verse 4 - The Diagnosis)He juk-juk the soil so the roots dem can breathe,He touched the pale stem and he looked underneath.He laughed a low laugh and he shook his grey head,“Yuh drown the poor thing till it wish it did dead!Too much heavy water, too much of yuh grief,Yuh hiding the chains under every last leaf.Roots need some room, likkle sun, likkle care,Talk nice to di herb like yuh know seh it hear.”(Verse 5 - The Mirror)Under the greasepaint, my teardrops start flow,Nobody cares where a clown wants to go.I whispered, “Dear Doctor, my ledger is torn,I run from the law in a car that is bornOf foolishness, static, and public display—Can your magical medicine wash it away?Can you fix up a spirit that's withered and dry?”I wiped a real tear from my fake little eye.(Verse 6 - The Doctor's Wisdom)The Herb Doctor smiled and he mixed up a blend,“Mi nurture di crop till di branches dem bend.Water… but nuh drown it, or the roots dem will rot.Sunlight… but nuh burn what is left in the pot.Patience… yuh cyaan rush the healing inside,Yuh cyaan paint a smile over things yuh buy-side.Love di herb, foolish clown, and it love yuh back true,The soil don’t care about the market or you.”(Verse 7 - The Return)The big brass is calling, the cymbals will crash,Tomorrow we pack up and leave in a flash.But I walk back to camp with a light in my chest,Leaving the ghost of the banker to rest.My green leaf is standing up straight in the mold,A million times richer than counting the gold.Just a red-nosed ghost in a giant crew,But the Shaman healed both of us. He always knew.....
