Once some gents met for a debate;
Though not all were mad, think you not,
The merr-go-round was the venue,
On a topic they could not decide.

"To solve this simple equation!" the teacher pondered.
"If X relates to Y, then what is the answer to Y?"
"I could not say prayers today!" moaned the priest,
"I believe I left them in my breviary,
And they have lockt the vestry!"

"Let's talk about this and that," suggested the clown;
Replied the priest," I solemnly disagree!
"I am unwilling to expound on this and that,
I am a doctor of divinity."
"Well!" asked the clown,
"Shall we talk about clowning?
It's not simplier than preaching."

"Isn't cloning a sort of scientific clowning?"
Asked the priest of the c lown;
"Oh no!" replied the clown;
"I think it is rather obvious,
There is a difference in the spelling!"

"Oh yes!" the ventriloquist reminded,
"A double you is the variance !
But I see where they differ
Also in pronouncing!
I wish to talk about politics;
I am eager for some new tricks
I could use in puppetry !"

"I don't think it matters!" cried the tumbler,
"It's safe as long as there's a trampoline !"
"Yes siree!" shouted the operator,
"So long as the crowd keeps coming,
The ferris wheel will be fine!
Children like to go up,and up,
Nobody wants to go down!"
"Don forget the fireworks!" cried the pyrotechnist.
Eating fire is the main attraction!"

"Well !" exclaimed the teacher,
"I am really confused !
Will someone correctly answer,
In this simple equation,
Could reality be a lie.
If X does not relate to Y?"

"You may be right!" the acrobat yell'd
" I must try it on the trapeze!"
"Don't do that!" the lion tamer warned.
"Did you mean the chimpanzee ?
She ought to marry with the tiger !"
"What?" screamed the ventriloquist in uproar,
"The giraffes would be curious,
The elephants would blow their trumpets,
The hyenas would laugh them to scorn!"

"I should have broke' his arm!" the wrestler growled;
"Peace be unto you!" mutter'd the priest,
"Let us offer to each other the hand of peace!"
"It is not exactly amoral !" he loudly announced,
"To utter a blasphemous word ! Stop the cloning!
Oops! I mean the clowning !
"No! I mean the cloning! It will disrupt eschatology!"
"Father!" quipped the circus master,
"I believe you mean ecology!"

"Whey!" cried the teacher'
"I am totally dumbfounded!
"Will someone answer correctly,
In this simple equation,
If X relates to Y,
But to Y there is no answer,
Is that why we ride on the merri-go- round?"

Yeah, riding on the merri-go- round.
Day after day night after night,
From light to dark from dark to light,
From sunrise to sunset round and round.

Oren O. Cousins - Copyright by Oren O. Cousins 2003 (All rights reserved)