The Circus Came to Town
by Thadd Presley
Damp, dark,
a clank, a spark
a white light,
so bright
my eyes
shut tight.
It was years before,
I was only a boy
a circus came to town
with elephants and joy
A tent
so large
all the people in town
could come right in
and see the clowns.
In my delight, I got lost
For my family I looked
and down a dark hallway,
A girl was took.
A thick curtain hung down,
it covered the way.
I didn’t see anything
But I heard the man say.
“Come one, come all,
Gather around ya’ll.
See the beautiful Chinese
and the Japanese dolls”
The girl I saw
so skinny, so thin,
with long, blond hair
she was locked up tight
a chain under her chin.
She was scarred and so young.
She spoke up quickly,
she whispered:
“Get out of here! RUN!!!”
Her eyes were so wide,
from the shock of my sight
she shook in her cage,
and her necklace of chains
“RUN!!” She cried,
“they’ll be back again!”
Afraid for my life,
Finally I did.
I stand here now
Before the world
To tell of that place,
those chains,
and that girl.