Michael with his carnival smile

And carousel eyes

Sells his tickets of love by the roll

With a barker’s enthusiastic cry

Waiting for the elusive prize to fill his empty soul

Michael is caught on a roller coaster

Of emotional ups and downs

Never knowing what he truly wants

So he’ll play the painted clown

            And the days spin by

            Like cotton candy on a cone

            The seasons fly

            And Michael wanders off alone

Michael has been too long at the fair again

And is lost in the “hall of mirrors”

Each reflecting too many images

Of all his pain and fears

            And the weeks fall

            Like colored balloons to the ground

            And the years call

His name from the merry-go-round

Michael is running out of tickets

And has been on all the rides

He waits by the water, as the lights dim

then misses the last boat on the tide

That could take him home to the

Twisted roots of reason and despair

But Michael will continue going

To every amusement park affair

            And the barkers cry

            He has passed every stall and store

            And the gamers lied

            All along they had kept the score

Michael doesn’t go to the fair much now

Some say he is keeping to his own

He stays at home most nights now

Just waiting by a silent telephone

Terry D. Robertson

Author of “Fill My Eyes”