Mr. Ludwing VanMeyer JoHarker
The world’s greatest carnival barker!
When he’d shout for a show no one’d dare to not go, but that was a lifetime ago
JoHarker, Ludwig VanMeyer
With a simple, small-time, sideshow flyer
When the show went live no one cared to arrive (Ludwig was a hundred and five)
Little Sally Penelope Long
No audience, but still started her song
Even if no one came she would sing all the same, for there’s more to a song than acclaim
Ludwig’s health sadly on the decline
Almost blind but his ears worked just fine
When he heard her sing, he dropped everything, and a tear to his eye she did bring
He’d heard nothing quite as glorious
In his entire whole century plus
And he swore it’d be true, that the world would hear too, if it was the last thing that he’d do
Over his mouth with his hands he did cup
Striving for that one last ‘step right up’
When he let out his yell, the big top nearly fell! To this day there’s been no parallel
Ludwig’s voice like a thunderous bang!
An odd time but the church bells all rang
As his words echoed through, crystal cups shattered too, you could hear him far past Timbuktu!
The youngsters, all shocked by the yell
But their grandparents all knew that voice well!
And if Ludwig spoke true, he’d surprised himself too, he still had it but just never knew
That was twelve years ago, in Yorktown
And the great Ludwig’s no longer around
But Long’s a name you can see on every marquee, shore to shore and across every sea!