#6 - A Balancing Act

Kensal Green Cemetery is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. It is located in the Royal London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, and was originally consecrated in 1833. One of its many famous residents is the Victorian Tightrope Walker, Charles Blondin. 

A Balancing Act 

A man can rest his weight upon a wire

above a town or raging waterfall

but can he master all his base desires

through sheer audacity and foolish gall? 

Sometimes I am the tightness in the rope,

sometimes I am the yawning black abyss;

I tread the air to struggle and to cope

with all that I am not, and all I miss.

I’ll carry you, a pilgrim, on my back,

and see you safely to the other side.

We’ll navigate the narrowest of tracks:

twelve thousand inches long, three inches wide. 

I bless the boys below who tied the knots; 

this clichéd metaphor is all I’ve got.

LM 

Listen to the Poem Here 

Photo credit: Wikipedia