Hazy-aired Dallas Fair.
A Ferris wheel a-flight,
food and games a-cheating,
dapper as our dress on this cherry-topped night:

My hair swept across my head,
a crown,
the only thing worthy of your
Perpetual frown.

We pass a sideshow,
utmost fitting,
and I can’t stop my mind from witting:

The tamer and the lion,
you play each part.
So what role does that leave,
for my own heart?

I soak in the vendors,
filling a void your honor’s above.
With cheap jewelry and checkbook,
I myself can compensate
for your absent love.

“My love’s atop the Ferris wheel,”
you coo and coax.
Yet even I’m smart enough,
to see through that old hoax:

The tamer and the lion,
you play each part.
So what role does that leave,
for my own heart?

And yet up and up,
rocking,
we climb.

You speak simple words about a simple friend,
and we face the sun in due time.

Beams pierce through my makeup,
unmasking my scars,
and I think that maybe against this lion,
Heaven’s waging a war.

The tamer and the lion,
you play each part.
So how much would it hurt,
if I were to depart?