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.i.
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!
