The Circus Has Left Town

What struck you first  was the smell of caged animals rank with boredom and rage. Lions with matted fur pacing restlessly dreaming of antelopes on the hot savanna plain Elephants ponderously swinging their trunks,  snuffling up stray peanuts thrown by bored, sticky children. The teams of acrobats in the Big Tent strutting defiantly to their ropes and swings knowing that a dark part of their audience's minds secretly wishes that they would fall. The brash and pitiless Midway where barkers yelled at you to play a game and made no secret what they thought of you: RUBE. I'll miss it when it's gone.