She is up again
Up, up above the rafters
Enclosed in the fondness of distance
Worlds away from the salty stench of butter and popcorn
And crumpled tickets and mothers who warn
Not to get too close to the elephants.
Protect her from the gawks, the laughs, the jeers
Shield her from the gulps of anticipation
Of people who paid 20, 30, 50 cents
To gasp as the acrobat tumbles through sweaty air
Swoops across the audience, transfixed
They stare
To land gracefully on a ribboned balcony:
Arms outstretched
Smile wide
And forgotten.
She sighed.
And if she never came back?
Released from the ropes,
The cables slack
Something a little shier than hope
Would draw her to the clouds born of fresh air
Would cleanse her senses
Her soul
Her smoky hair
And while she soared
Far from the audience she so adored
Would she know that miles below
“She disappeared, what a show!”
Was proclaimed
A fresh new finale
A life worth 20, 30, 50 cents
That with a swallow of cheap lemonade
Was quickly forgotten.
What I love about this, is how powerfully executed it is, while being not being provocative. I think that often we forget that for art to be moving it does not have to address current real problems––sometimes it can just be a sad tale about a person people never really understood or appreciated.