And now I come to sit at the rim of the world, where
I’ve sold your hands to the nearest fortune teller
Her mystical green crystal ball tells me your future is bright
Last sputter of a gasping motor
that r-r-revs upon hearing children’s laughter.
The air here feels heavy with heat and the weight of a thousand regrets.

Come home now please,
My mother made dinner and it’s your favorite,
Roasted chicken, green peas, white rice, and a kiss.
After we eat, let’s take a walk to the old candy shop
The machines don’t work anymore but we can pretend like they do.
Put on the man’s pink cotton candy hat, and I’ll give you my
wrinkled Lincoln’s where the heat distorts his beard blue.

I knew your heart was a carnival
from the moment you admitted me entry
Green ticket, torn at the edges
Red bracelet, frayed at the clasp
Ferris wheel creaks and
merry-go-round swings
almost didn’t notice it, in the half-hearted
breeze of your cold breath.
The metal is rusted bloody now, but I
can’t remember a time when it
was ever clean. Red-fried flames
of cinnamon swirl left the rollercoaster
encrusted with sticky sinful indulgences.
Just last year, you could still hear the
whisper twinkles of the fairies’ snarling voices.
Because now, the children have come
and gone and plundered your black
treasures, and just like that,
your youth is so far gone
that even the old carnival has traveled on.