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!"