The Comedian

Poem by Rocco Valentini

Artwork Sourced From Pinterest. Artist: George Rozen.

The Comedian

by Antonio Rocco S. (Rocco Valentini)

The comedian is a clown
Whose nose is a pomander
And whose circus tent
Is a fumigation tarp
Filled with laughing gas.

N₂O

The comedian is not an apothecary, 
He is a mortician. 
Irony is formaldehyde
In a world dying from a lack of sincerity.
The punchline is the time of death.

N₂O

"Lighten up."
"Life’s too short to be serious all the time."
"Learn to laugh at yourself."
Laughter is the final sickening crack of the soul
In a noose pulled tightly by a smile.

N₂O

Perhaps if more people died laughing,
The rest might learn to live by thinking.
No more Día de los Muertos,
No more Memento Mori—
Memento te vivere debere.
Translation: 
No more Day of the Dead,
No more remember that you must die—
Remember that you must live. 

Footnote: N₂O is the chemical formula for nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas.