Cotton Candy

Of cotton candy and candy apple’s crunch I remember the circus tent and dusk The smells of donkeys and elephant dung And heady smells of smoke that hung In the air almost suspended Up in the air trapezists flew Catch and grab as we sat with gasp Trumpets blared and clowns blew hooters At the man that was shot from a cannon The man with the red jacket boomed and joked As bored fathers sat and smoked Our eyes were wide with wonder At the horses run and elephant’s thunder The thrill and glee of young blood pumping Through our young veins as dogs were jumping And the smells and tastes and colours merged Into memories and dreams and golden moments As we sit and reminisce, wondering why the past was bliss Whilst the now was dry and dusty, crusty with rigid thoughts What we lost was more than the circus What we lost was our sense of wonder As the age trampled us with its relentless thunder As we stuck our head’s in life’s lion’s mouth Our sense of fun just slipped away Like the circus tent was packed away And the site is empty now, silent and cold Even the elephant dung is dried and old But all is not lost, all is not gone, ride after the circus, find the tent Find the wonder in candy canes bent Find the life and the love and the smells Find the children with their gasps and their yells As they live on in wonder, jumping to cannon shot’s thunder Shouting at clowns and clapping for dogs In awe and wonder Daniel Human 21 September 2014