Carousel
Ashes and dust between my toes
I must walk again this broken road
Peering through windows of burnt out houses
Shocked out shells and basket cases
Searching for you amongst the jumble
Of truth and love, lie and fumble
Crowding through Mammon's churches
Alone amongst the painted faces
Grasping hands of well met friends
Wishing for their words to end
Hearing only distant voices
Whispers on the wind
Of circus acts, the carousel
That brings me on this trip through hell
Puts fragile hopes in broken slivers
Reflections drawn from heart shaped mirrors
An ill wind blows me in full sail
Past Reason's Rock towards betrayal
Voiceless angers, snares of self
Cut glass peril, cut price delph
Sleepless still talking
I'm tracing the fault lines
Through famined fields to tables of plenty
Walking on and crying gently
Drunk and stupid with despair
Knowing you cannot be where
I have placed you in my heart
Dislocated journey's start
Signposts point to different routes
Clapped out lies and nascent truths
Hope's a tramp up in the distance
But she won't be offering assistance
Clowns surround me at way station
Dicing only for frustration
A riddle on a gangsters collar
Red eyed dawn and bottom dollar
Winding up the backwards clock
Still reeling from the aftershock
Of Cupid with a rocket launcher
Quarter none, just hopeless slaughter
Homely bars then make the cage
Where I subdue unreasoned rage
Suspending my bad attitude
In contemplative solitude
Love's a solitary confinement
When axis shift to realignment
Fallen angels lie in the clay
And I must wake another day
Ashes and dust between my toes
I'll walk again this broken road
Signed and framed copies of this poem printed on quality paper are available in any size. Calligraphed versions also available. Please email the address below for more details. Copyright Brendan O'Neill.
Not to be reproduced in any form without permission.
