What other answer
could there be,
all the bright horses
leaping, panting and prancing
to get where they are.

2.
We travel so hard
to be here.
No sun, no rain,
but it’s worth it,
to see our shadows
vague on the frozen lawn.

3.
Because of the music
of course, the brass
fancy-work calliope
that plays by itself—
every child knows
that’s what makes the horses run
and it’s their endless stampede
drives the machinery
that makes the music come.
Every child knows
we cause each other
and then we forget.

4.
Sometimes there’s a swan-boat
or a dragon cart
and there the old folks sit
rescued from the up-and-down.
I sat there once gladly
in a very nice dragon
fierce and green and gold,
to watch the others jump
at the mercy of the beasts they ride.
Peaceful a moment
I travel where I am.

15 January 2021