Net

I want to be the light

that lifts and laughs,

raises a tent

of your circus colored smile.

Mysterious, wonderful,

well worn and childlike

eyes blink joy,

blink love,

blink carnival lights.

Hues that flash on

when the sun catches

the right angle.

A short cropped lion’s mane

tangle of spun sugar

floats and spouts from your roof

in shades of coins,

tokens,

golden carousel rings

of past lives, caught.

An elephant too smart

and sensitive,

too sentimental to enjoy

the hind leg dances

and feigned grandeur.

The gentle smirk of you,

the cynic in the back row

waiting for the acrobat to fall,

but hoping with vigor

and cajoled by their inner child

to instead gape open in awe.

I grabbed your hands

in a flurry of sparkles

and bravado.

Swung us both on the strength

of my knees.

We hung there,

hearts in throats.

We slipped and fell,

only to discover

our tangled limbs

created the most comforting net

beneath us.