Aerialist
Each
night,
this
adroit
young
lady
Lies
among
sheets
Shredded
fine
as
snowflakes
Until
dream
takes
her
body
From
bed
to
strict
tryouts
In
tightrope
acrobatics.
Nightly
she
balances
Cat-clever
on
perilous
wire
In
a
gigantic
hall,
Footing
her
delicate
dances
To
whipcrack
and
roar
Which
speak
her
maestro's
will.
Gilded,
coming
correct
Across
that
sultry
air,
She
steps,
halts,
hung
In
dead
center
of
her
act
As
great
weights
drop
all
about
her
And
commence
to
swing.
Lessoned
thus,
the
girl
Parries
the
lunge
and
menace
Of
every
pendulum;
By
deft
duck
and
twirl
She
draws
applause;
bright
harness
Bites
keen
into
each
brave
limb
Then,
this
tough
stint
done,
she
curtsies
And
serenely
plummets
down
To
traverse
glass
floor
And
get
safe
home;
but,
turning
with
trained
eyes,
Tiger-tamer
and
grinning
clown
Squat,
bowling
black
balls
at
her.
Tall
trucks
roll
in
With
a
thunder
like
lions;
all
aims
And
lumbering
moves
To
trap
this
outrageous
nimble
queen
And
shatter
to
atoms
Her
nine
so
slippery
lives.
Sighting
the
stratagem
Of
black
weight,
black
ball,
black
truck,
With
a
last
artful
dodge
she
leaps
Through
hoop
of
that
hazardous
dream
To
sit
up
stark
awake
As
the
loud
alarmclock
stops.
Now
as
penalty
for
her
skill,
By
day
she
must
walk
in
dread
Steel
gauntlets
of
traffic,
terror-struck
Lest,
out
of
spite,
the
whole
Elaborate
scaffold
of
sky
overhead
Fall
racketing
finale
on
her
luck.
