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.
Copyright © Jan Chapman | Year Posted 2017
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