Cirkus

Night: her sable dome scattered with diamonds
Fused my dust from a light year
Squeezed me to her breast, sowed me with carbon
Strung my warp across time
Gave me each a horse, sunrise and graveyard
Told me only I was her
Bid me face the east, closed me in questions
Built the sky for my dawn.

Cleaned my feet of mud, followed the empty
Zebra ride to the Cirkus
Past a painted cage, spoke to the paybox
Glove which wrote on my tongue
Pushed me down a slide to the arena
Megaphonium fanfare
In his cloak of words strode the ringmaster
Bid me join the parade.

"Worship!" cried the clown, "I am a T.V.
Making bandsmen go clockwork
See the slinky seal Cirkus policeman
Bareback ladies have fish"
Strongmen by his feet, plate-spinning statesman
Acrobatically juggling
Bids his tamers go quiet the tumblers
Lest the mirror stop turning.

Elephants forgot, force-fed on stale chalk
Ate the floors of their cages
Strongmen lost their hair, paybox collapsed and
Lions sharpened their teeth
Gloves raced round the ring, stallions stampeded
Pandemonium seesaw
I ran for the door, ringmasters shouted
"All the fun of the Cirkus!"