| The cyclical carnival, a shield of gold
Whirls on a tithing deluge of darkness
Grasping and gathering the stars
Into a violent net of neon, shrieking
For reverence to the vendible ultimate.
The infinite shape, a playful palisade
Of signboards of decent deceiving
Is unlocked by a fee to the gainful gate
That swallows like a courteous cat �
The crownfront of bribeable bureaucrats
Keeping the privateering spirit of general rules
In the big bidding for space and building.
On the capital surface of the crowded circle
Bright barkers interweave a fiery texture;
The blaring pattern conceals the hammering hands
That have built and bear it, Atlas-like.
The monopoly tents in anarchic array
Feature the best feats of client-conscious beasts.
Politicians and professional specialists
Do the tightrope and somersault,
The role of horses, lions and elephants,
Bear and chimpanzee.
The pedants make good clowns on the periphery,
Beside their castrate charms.
The sideshadows offer freaks when funny,
Taken funnily when serious
And a monkey conducting a recorded symphony.
The sideshows offer faithful fakes like
The original snake of the forbidden tree
And the boy with genitals overgrown.
The peepshows augur more than ogled,
Charity ladies giggling with gigolos;
The maze of mirrors sate solipsists;
The house of horrors offers free admittance
Under the sponsorship of a softdrink company.
The scape and studied speech of ferriswheels,
Flying saucers, swinging planes, roller coasters,
And trains � all congeal the terrible season
Of the carnival cosmos of gawkers
And growing children that abandons the ground bald
After coronation night of the moneyed muse.
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