side show opened on broadway six years ago this month … this is a poem i wrote for the company of the workshop a year earlier … but it pretty well captures the joy of both experiences …
(for the company of side show september, 1996)
everyone sees heaven
in his or her own way
people dream a paradise
where they’d like to play
some would choose the tropics
or groves of honeydew
but i have been in paradise
working here with you
didn’t need an airplane
didn’t go that far
didn’t need to pack a bag
or get a rental car
didn’t fly to marrakesh
or mountains in peru
but i’ve had five weeks
in paradise
working here with you
hardly saw the sunshine
didn’t get a tan
didn’t raft the rapids
or join a caravan
but i can think of nothing
i would rather do
than spend five weeks
in paradise
working hard with you
god knows this profession
isn’t always fair
and the work we love to do
isn’t always there
which makes this rare experience
one to cherish through and through
these lovely weeks in paradise
working hard with you
heaven is eternal
this paradise is not
but memories don’t have to end
such memories we’ve got
i’m grateful for another week
a sixth of ballyhoo
to celebrate the five just passed
in paradise
with you