“Last chance to see”
The woman in the scales
come one, come all
to the Mermaid in a stall
The man in the checkered suit
waves his gloved hands at the tent
last chance to see
a bit of remaining wonder
a con that only the guileless believed
but we went anyway,
spending our meager cents
for a moment with a woman
who all pretended to be
more than a woman
we needed to believe in something
more than the cars on the road,
the orbs of light on the streets,
and the skyscrapers growing into the sky
we needed a moment that recalled
when humanity lived in fear of the dark,
and knocked wood to keep the fairies away.
Electricity exposed the outlines of our magic
We still need the dark.