Why I love clowns

To me, the clown is more than an archetype – clown images are filled with wonderful memories. This card is from my personal deck. It is the Hierophant, and the clown posing with me and my little Scots terrier was called Clown Lez. That was his professional name, I never knew him by any other. He was kindness in human form. A truly gentle philosopher who had travelled far amd wide and learned in his long life that the most perfect expression of humanity is compassion. He taught me this little verse by Joseph Grimaldi, the `father of clowns’:

Life’s a game we all must play;
The wise enjoy it,
Fools grow sick of it.
Winners laugh while losers pay,
And that’s the trick of it.

I think that’s all of it but it’s been a long time.
To me a clown with always personify kindness, and the genuine joy of a child’s laughter. No wonder I wanted to be one of my heroes, and I was for a time. Truly making people of all ages laugh is one of life’s great joys.
Another link with clowns is Billy Joels beautiful song, Leningrad, about meeting a circus clown while he was in Russia. Viktor became a circus clown because “the greatest happiness he’d ever found, was making Russian children laugh.”
Thank you for stirring my memories with this activity, and reminding me why I love the clown.

~ by gailkav on April 9, 2007.