All this is
Is another grand gesture;
deliberate,
orchestrated.
A ruse,
a trick,
some slight of hand;
made to make you
think a lie is the truth.
If I can get
you to believe
the words,
then maybe I can
find consensus in
this masquerade and
rather than
having to turn around
and face the horrors
of this burning circus;
I can just
walk away.
Freeing myself
from this high wire
that I myself have made.
Cynical positions,
contradictions,
and a
hypocrite’s distain.
Juggling my many
ill-conceived discourses,
my straw men
and my rage.
Influencer,
peddler,
hawker
of whatever suits
the order of the day.
Get them in the tent.
Watch the elephants;
malnourished and diseased.
Set the clowns upon them,
great molesters
of the mind.
The kind of thing
that makes nightmares.
This is the thing they call,
“The Greatest Show on Earth”.
I cry my accusations,
confessing,
but the crowd only laughs
and swells applause.
It’s healing in reverse.
No wonder I stand in
the center ring,
a pistol in my hand.
I put it to my head,
pull the trigger
and pops out a little flag.
“BANG”
Guilt and humiliation;
not even lions and tigers
want to play.
Sold off
to feed the freak show;
the only draw
that brings them in these days.
A loser and a charlatan.
I set a fire,
turn and walk away,
or maybe it’s an accident.
Turn the animals loose,
no one wants to stay.
Face all my accusers,
the bleachers full
of faces I’ve distained.
I’ve worn away my welcome,
it was not supposed
to be this way.
Hurry, hurry, hurry!
Step right up!
See the man
who sold his soul
for everything,
losing his mind,
losing his life.
The circus has left town,
now,
he’s the only show around.
The only one we like.
HG – 2018
