The Wreck of the Circus Train

Couplings buckled, cracked, collapsed,
And all reared, wheels and steel
Pawing and leaping above the plain:

And fell adown, a total crash
Deep in the spreading sea of dust
As temples into their cellars crash.

The dust flattened across silence
Which follows the end of anything,
Drifted into cracks of wreckage.

Still, motion operated, girder
Sought gravity and shifted, let
Escape a gritty scraping noise.

And life of sorts struggled to
Detain spirit: three lions, one
Male with wide masculine mane,

Two female, short, strong, emerged
And looked dully over the ruin,
Turned and swung off toward the hills.