For me, the line "A circus tent and all the folding chairs fit in an old coffin for travel" has always meant that when you die, the whole show that was your life disappears with you and your coffin. As magical as a circus show can appear, with its clowns, animals, jugglers and whatnot, in the end it's just a tent and a bunch of folding chairs that are put in a box, and all the magic is gone and forgotten.
Or maybe it's a little less literal, maybe the circus tent is the human skin and all the folding chairs are our bones, all that is left of us when we die, and however magnificent you or others might have thought of you, it all fits into a small wooden box. The idea - however - remains similar than with the more literal meaning: when we die, all the magic that made our life into what it was is instantly gone, and you're left with just the empty shell.
For me, the line "A circus tent and all the folding chairs fit in an old coffin for travel" has always meant that when you die, the whole show that was your life disappears with you and your coffin. As magical as a circus show can appear, with its clowns, animals, jugglers and whatnot, in the end it's just a tent and a bunch of folding chairs that are put in a box, and all the magic is gone and forgotten.
Or maybe it's a little less literal, maybe the circus tent is the human skin and all the folding chairs are our bones, all that is left of us when we die, and however magnificent you or others might have thought of you, it all fits into a small wooden box. The idea - however - remains similar than with the more literal meaning: when we die, all the magic that made our life into what it was is instantly gone, and you're left with just the empty shell.