You look so sad
To me
Why can't you see
I want to grasp your hand
And band together
Against the rest
Of the world
And whirl around
The whorls of the tree of life
Where strife is a myth
And sickness a joke
Where you don't choke
On the struggles of
Your past
Just move past them
And then you breath
The air of free men
But then and only then
Will you feel the emptiness
Of a life all figured out
no doubt no dreary dreams
Of everything coming together
No hope or plans
Or need to make plans
Next time you want it all
To stop
Remember
When life stops
You do too

Part 1
"How about some long beautiful hair" the Santa says
The little girl rubs her head bald and veiny
She looks like a baseball

"No. It doesn't get in my eyes anymore when I play basketball" she says

The bunch of us
Sunken eyed and balding
In wheelchairs and on crutches
Some of us holding our I.V. stands for support

I can only imagine how the Santa feels
The tiniest zombies
All waiting for a turn

Me
I have silver caps on my top front teeth
And dentures
Look like an old Cadillac
Insides all rust and rumble

We all want to know if we were good this year

Part 2
Cut to the bunch of us
Watching the Blue Angels air show

All getting pictures with a man dressed as Shamu
He is supposed to write something on the backs of all the pictures

I try to imagine
What you could possibly write
To a group of kids that looked like us

Each photo
In shaky black ink
Because whales aren’t prehensile

He writes
I love you

Part3
When the circus came to the hospital
We all gathered on a balcony
The news was there

Clowns painted our faces

I asked if they had room for me
Told them I could be like that guy
From the 007 movies
With the silver teeth that could bite really big stuff

They said I might miss my folks
I told them I wouldn’t
Then took off my gown
To show them my scars

They weren’t impressed

Ever since I’ve wanted to join the circus

Part 4
Despite our qualifications
We could not join the circus

But that is okay
All we wanted really
Was to know if we were good
And that somebody loved us

We were
And somebody did

But darling,
                    There's no need for such mutilation;
                a heart is lovely but one cannot love
             just a small piece of rythmic flesh
          torn from a person.
       The whole being
    must be loved.

There is no blood to be spilt,
only blood to water roses.