The Carnival
The bright lights of the carnival
Warmed the chilly night one December
Loud shouts from the Room of Terror,
The gleeful uproar and the mascot’s arrival
In synchronicity with the last ticking hour
The hazing neon blinded the good eye
Closed the mind to the heart’s rationale
Thinking, this place was more than I could ever have
Most venom-injected words tasted like fine wine
Lulled the senses ’til the system went to hell
The Ferris Wheel froze, the carriages slack
The cheery music died, blurs of scurrying children
I found myself stuck in the House of Illusion
One step forward dragged me ten steps back
Farther from the exit, closer to the edge
If five months under a crescent moon vanished
Then how come the lights are imprinted behind my eyelids?
Then how come I write these words as slumber becomes a ghost?
Tell me, how come the carnival’s flair deflated to an angry poem?
Behold, the mascot we envisioned was half a man’s armour
He thought he was bold, calling himself the modern Mad Hatter
Somewhere in there the mascot haunts the site
Unmasking the Truth as he spews insults left and right
As the land lays abandoned to the starry night skies
Amongst which is a single wish that hoped for a flicker of light
But the place no longer appeals to the ones who are now wise
The author is an emerging poetess.
