On The Trapeze

(A Villanelle for Brex)

I fly up here, above the roaring crowd,

my thoughts so hard upon my high-strung deeds –

soaring; my heart lifts with my utter glee.

I never thought that I would be allowed

to do the one thing I would always need –

I fly up here, above the roaring crowd.

I paused aloft and then, with grace, I bowed

to crowds who came, and let me take the lead –

soaring; my heart lifts with my utter glee.

At first it was so high that I felt cowed,

as though I were a lost and floating reed –

I fly up here, above the roaring crowd.

But I loved it, that I so nearly howled,

and those who tried to stop me had to cede.

Soaring; my heart lifts with my utter glee.

So now I spend my life as I had vowed –

beyond the people who I have to heed,

I fly up here, above the roaring crowd –

soaring; my heart lifts with my utter glee.

Written 31/03/2009. Published in Poetry.com, 2013.