Buffoonery

[Verse 1]
Beyond the trembling strings of the lyre
A laughing jester hides himself.
He belongs to some other realm,
A palace that was never his.
He tears the stage open in the night,
And tiny birds dissolve into a waltz,
Little rats whirl in their dance,
While the vast square shudders in response.

[Chorus]
He entertains the pygmies of this world,
Where everyone is small in soul.
Harlequins spin in dizzy circles,
The ceiling quivers above them all.
Laughter crashes through the halls,
Shop windows tremble, illusion swells.
Beyond the fragile strings of the lyre
Our quiet jester dances still.

[Verse 2]
Behind soft curtains made of down
They drift in festive disguise—
Esquires and golden flies alike,
Floating in pairs through perfumed air.
The jester weeps through his violin,
For all the pain he never voiced,
And with a crooked, aching smile
The entire masquerade breaks down in tears.

[Chorus]
He mocks the mighty of the world,
Those twisted, bitter little kings.
The fractured lyre begins to speak,
And suddenly the hall falls still.
Then comes a hollow, false anthem—
Outside, the square erupts in laughter.
Here every dwarf declares himself a ruler,
Each one dreaming he is God.

[Bridge]
For there, beyond the veil of strings,
Masked in gold and crowned in fear,
They weep while dancing wildly on,
Knowing what is drawing near.
The crowd does not hear their cries—
It only wants to lose itself in motion.
And from the shadows, twisted and exhausted,
The jester stares back at them.

[Chorus]
He amused the powerful for so long,
But now the palace has gone dark.
The people cast aside their idols,
Tired of their hollow madness.
Laughter roars — and heavy rain
Washes gold from every face.
Beyond the boundary of the lyre
The kingdom has already rotted through.