Too Fearful To Go Poem by Robert Rorabeck

Lights go out and the rides at
Adolescent amusement parks slow down
And stop,
The oil lays asleep in a windless castanet
Far beneath the earth,
Gurgling and cooing,
And the traffic narrows, simplifies, as your
Lawyers and doctors and stronger and even
Braver men return to reciprocate;
And they have bought bouquets and been to the
Jewelry store,
While I am the enigma on my stormy mountain
Trying to create enough static electricity through
My joints to keep the show going,
To keep just the smallest town alight by
Conducting energy through my toes to the
Light bulbs in the snow;
And I haven’t seen you for a decade, but I know
How you look,
How you can raise entire armies of enigmatic dead
From just your simple tears:
And I want to call down to you an orchestra of things
Highlighted and unreal,
But I want us to defy them all and stir up a hornets
Nest,
To crenellate a show above tree line,
A strange and better lit amusement where every tourist
Is too fearful to go.