SUN SETS OVER THE FERRIS WHEEL

SUN SETS OVER THE FERRIS WHEEL

It's been a sweet amusement,
But I really must be going now.

The clowns are exiting stage left.
The kiddie cars have run off track,
Crashed in a junk heap of midway straw.

I've won the stuffed panda,
Popped all the balloons,
Crammed my belly with the sweet, fatty food.

It's been a sweet amusement,
But I really must be moving on.

The painted horses bob and weave
In grand circular motion.

The Tilt-a-Whirl has sent my tummy
Tunneling in reckless fashion.

Something wells up in my eye,
And all I want to do is cry.

There's something sad about a fair,
Melancholy hovers in the festive air.

As though they doth protest too much.
These grand splashes of happiness,
This counterfeit joy,
When the man sees through the glass clear at last
And has outdistanced the gleeful boy.

We fly so hard to crash back down.
Tomorrow it's another town,
And the carnies pocket the day's receipts,
And sweat away the August heat.

There's a sadness to this life,
That's hard to rise and overcome.
It's been a thrill ride and a half,
But now I hear that distant drum.

And surely you know how I feel,
My fellow travelers of clay,
The sun sets over the ferris wheel,
And it beckons me away.

-Bruce Potts
Revised Copyright 2014
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED