The Normal Circus

The road looked straight from where I stood
It ran beyond the days I knew
I never saw it slowly turn
I only knew the day at hand

One day I stopped before the glass
A face I knew, but not the same
For just a moment, I stood still
And saw the years behind the frame

Looking back, I found the places
I never noticed at the time
They hid inside familiar days
Beneath a world I thought I knew

They never looked like anything
Worth remembering for long
They wore the face of every day
And passed without a sound

The days I thought would matter most
Have faded into shades of grey
While quiet moments, left behind
Still find their way into today

A moment touched a thousand days
Before a single one began
It reached so many lives at once
Beyond what we could ever know

Perhaps a word I can't recall
Still lives in somebody else
Somewhere a story carries on
Beyond what I could ever tell

A glance forgotten years ago
May still be held by someone now
An echo travels farther on
And never knows how far it goes

One second set in motion
Years begin a minute late
What seemed easy to dismiss
Still echoes far beyond that day

A moment touched a thousand days
Before a single one began
It reached so many lives at once
Beyond what we could ever know

Wonderful!

Another queue.
I was afraid today might be different.
Luckily,
I get to wait again.

Perfect timing!
Pension day.
The smells are magnificent.
Older than the building itself.
I can almost taste the air.
Please,
Take your time.

Excellent!
The longest line again.
I have a gift for finding it.
Someone is standing far too close.
Maybe that makes it faster.
That garlic breath is simply perfect!

Beautiful!
A woman is on a video call.
Now we all know,
Her mother stayed home,
With Fifi and Floki
Two tiny dogs,
That never stop barking.
Babble louder, please,
I almost missed a word.

Excellent!
Your vinyl is almost here.
We're waiting for it to arrive.
Another update is ready,
To improve everything.
It slowed everything down instead.
Perfect!
Just the way I like it.

Wonderful!
I became very good at waiting.
I barely notice it anymore.
I spent my whole life waiting,
And now I'm waiting for it to end!

Am I still hanging on a wall
In someone else's yesterday?
Would that face still look like mine
If I saw it here today?

Did memory keep me as I was
Or build a stranger in my place?
Would I know him if we met tonight
And stood there face to face?

Did memory keep me as I was?
Or build a stranger in my place?

In forgotten cardboard boxes
Beneath old letters tied with string
Old photographs still hold their place
Between the pages time forgot

But what remains in other minds?
Beyond old pictures left behind?
Did someone else survive the years
Beneath my borrowed name?

Did memory keep me as I was?
Or build a stranger in my place?

A single sentence, said once wrong
A passing glance across a room
A moment I no longer own
Still walking through another mind

One memory survived the years
And slowly grew beyond the rest
Could I still know myself at all
Inside the man they thought they knew?

If all those versions stood as one
And turned to look at me tonight
Would I still know myself at all
In any of their eyes?

Did memory keep me as I was?
Or build a stranger in my place?

Did memory keep me as I was?
Or build a stranger in my place?

Across the aisle a stranger sat
Someone I'd never seen before
Yet something felt familiar there
I couldn't say what caught my eye

He tipped his head when our eyes met
A gesture small enough to miss
And for a moment I recalled
A feeling I could not explain

At lunch a waitress stopped beside
And asked me what I'd like to have
She held my gaze a second longer
Like someone trying to place a name

Then came the tilt I knew too well
The same slight angle, calm and strange
I told myself it meant nothing
Yet something felt familiar again

Where have I seen that before?
It lingers longer than it should
A face I do not recognize
A feeling that I do

I started watching passing crowds
More carefully than once before
Looking for nothing I could name
Yet finding patterns everywhere

A man stepped out and turned his head
The way the others used to do
Different voice, different face
That small movement coming through

I've seen that before...
I know I have.

Each time someone turned to look
I felt I'd seen them years ago
Yet every face belonged to someone
I had never come to know

I kept meeting the same person
Again and again somehow
Not the face, not even the eyes
Just the certainty I feel now

Where have I seen that before?
Why does it happen again?
Every stranger feels familiar
Every answer feels untrue

Hands knew what they had to do
Words arrived before the thoughts
Another day completed itself
Without waiting for my reply

My life kept moving without me
Through this glass,
Who am I watching?

The room was quiet and unchanged
The glass stayed cold and clear
Nothing should have felt this far
Yet nothing felt completely near

If I am me,
who am I talking to
when I talk to myself?!

My life kept moving without me
Through this glass,
Who was I watching?

Who am I?

The noise inside my head was gone
The world became too sharp to hold
My feet were moving on their own
Before I knew where they would go

Can I still stop this?
Or is it gone for good?
Too late!

Seconds folded into one
Thoughts were falling far behind
It all came rushing in
My thoughts could not keep up

I closed my eyes
And let myself go
GO!!

I don't think I can stop this.
It's too late.
GOOD!!

Sunlight falling through the open door
Shoes abandoned on the wooden floor
Coffee steaming in the morning air
For once, it feels good just being here

Cars are passing through the waking town
Every face no longer looking down
Windows open, music somewhere near
And nothing whispers death into my ear

Today feels strangely bright
Like the world survived the night
Every street and every sound
Feels alive instead of drowned

And I almost want to stay
Inside this ordinary day
No collapse beneath my feet
Only summer, only heat

Friends are laughing underneath the sun
Someone shouting, somebody starts to run
Warm wind moving through the city square
For one moment, hope is everywhere

No ghosts waiting in the afternoon
No black clouds arriving far too soon
Even all the broken things I know
Seem less heavy in the evening glow

Maybe happiness is small
Maybe nothing changed at all
Maybe all we ever need
Is one quiet day of peace

Today feels strangely real
Like a wound allowed to heal
Every light across the sky
Looks too beautiful to hide

And the shadows far away
Failed to ruin every day
For one rare and fragile hour
Life itself regained its power

Back again
That familiar place
Only for a second
I know it's there

Gone before I touched it
Never where I expect
Always a step away
Stay a little longer

Almost found
Never caught
Always moving
Never gone

Near the bone
Or maybe below
Almost within reach
Still too low

Almost found
Never caught
Always moving
Never gone

Maybe tomorrow
Maybe tonight
One careful movement
I'll finally get it right

Ladies and gentlemen!
Welcome to the show!
The Normal Circus
Has come to town!

The posters came
To every town
"The Normal Circus
Has come around!"

The tents are full
The seats are packed
People are waiting
For simple facts

A scientist walks
Across the stage
The whole tent shakes
With every word

A philosopher speaks
"We may be wrong."
The cheering lasts
A little long

One man stops
And checks his source
The whole tent cheers
As if rehearsed

Standing ovation
The spotlights glow
Common sense
Steals the show

They cheer for reason
They laugh at proof
As if these things
Were long overdue

The years roll by
The crowds just grow
The louder they laugh
The less they know

The wagons leave
Another town
The posters rise
The next day round

The Normal Circus
Moves on once more
With longer lines
Than ever before

What if I never know
The truth behind that door?

The paint had faded on the walls
The floorboards changed beneath my feet
Yet one closed door remained the same
While all the years kept moving on

For years it vanished into walls
Like something always in the frame
Then one day I could not ignore
That I had never questioned it

I sometimes wonder if I passed
The moment meant to turn the key
Perhaps it stood before my eyes
And looked the way it always had

I could have stopped back then
Asked for more than silence gave
Or maybe all these years I've stood
Before an ordinary door

Was there nothing waiting there?
Or was there everything?
Have I spent a lifetime
Balanced somewhere in between?

What if I never know
The truth behind that door?