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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AFTER THE CIRCUS, by RAYMOND HOLDEN
First Line: I can remember how the memory
Last Line: The coming to one's self is what is meant.
Alternate Author Name(s): Holden, Raymond Peckham
Subject(s): Circus; Memory
First Line: I can remember how the memory
Last Line: The coming to one's self is what is meant.
Alternate Author Name(s): Holden, Raymond Peckham
Subject(s): Circus; Memory
I can remember how the memory
Of fat-hipped women and strong chalky horses
And men in red and gold hung heavily
From rafters in my eyes, how other forces
Recruited among peanuts and popped corn
Marched in my middle. I remember now
A miserable sense of having worn
Too small a hat, so that my dizzy brow
Reeled in the settling dust behind the mare
As we rolled homeward up the river breeze,
Pursued by blasts of trumpets and the glare
Of white lights hanging among high trapeze.
Yet, for relief, I have still more in mind
How a great bird I never hoped to see
With wings like winds of storm that beat me blind
Flew up and startled both the mare and me.
So great the power of its sudden flight
The very day was altered and my brain
Burst from its bonds and followed the sloped light
On through the maples to the bird again,
And then the look of clowns and the blare of brass
Was gone and something came to the road's edge
And the breath of it blew petals to the grass
And it took me in its arms and sang a pledge
I have not yet forgotten into me.
So much for circuses or for any event.
The coming away is the reality.
The coming to one's self is what is meant.
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