The Demon Horse on the Carousel

The trucks came in with the travelling show

To the heart of our western town,

They set their tents in the twilight glow

And circled the wagons round,

While we, the boys of the neighbourhood

Were watching with minds alight,

The girls in the pearl bikini’s

Who would brave the trapeze that night!

 

The light sprang out of a million bulbs

In yellow and pink and green,

Lighting the booths of the grinning clowns

That you rolled a ball between,

A Carny carolled, ‘A Penny a shy!’

And leered, with his gold-capped teeth,

Like a hungry shark at the fattest Mark,  

But with eyes of a petty thief!

 

And then the music began to stir

Like a grind from an organ song,

The puffing steam of the calliope

As the crowd began to throng,

While horses bucked and lowered their heads

The Carousel went by,

Riding on into the future as

It left us, high and dry.

 

I stayed all night by the Carousel,

Watching the people ride,

Off to a magical future where

No-one grew old, or died,

The organ stuttered its music

And the steam puffed by in clouds,

As a big black horse by the inner rail

Stood wrapped in a sheet-like shroud!

 

Nobody rode that noble horse,

Nobody even tried,

The Barker motioned the folks away

When they strayed to the horse’s side,

But I stood still and hypnotised

To watch as it rose and fell,

Its mane a-stream like the darkest dream,

As dark as the deepest well!

 

I waited until they called - ‘Last ride,

The last ride for the night!’

I paid my money and climbed aboard

And went for the horse - ‘Midnight!’

The Barker stood with his back to me

Was calling the ride aloud,

So I hid beside the great black horse,

Pulled off the enveloping shroud!

 

The ride was off and away, I leapt

And clung to the horse’s mane,

Its head was tossing so high and proud,

This horse had never been tame!

The stars were high in the midnight sky,

The Moon was up and about,

But then the music began to change,

And the lights of the ride went out.

 

The wind blew up and the world went by

And the Carousel spun round,

I couldn’t see past the horses head,

We seemed to be far from the ground,

The horse got rid of its wooden pole

Whinnied, while shaking its head,

Then turned to look at the boy on its back,

And the glass in its eye glowed red.

 

The music suddenly turned around

Ran backwards around the rig,

Just like a mad asylum sound,

It seemed like a whirligig,

While ‘Midnight’ galloped on through the stars

And bucked and pranced in the air,

And I grew sick with a deadly fear

I’d be thrown off its back out there!

 

The ride continued for hour on hour,

We travelled down to the core,

I saw some visions of what might be…

I don’t want to see any more!

‘Just take me back to the town,’ I cried,

‘Just let my nightmare be!’

The horse looked on me with glowing eyes,

I’d swear that he pitied me!

 

The lights came on in the Carousel,

The horse, it came to a stop,

I slipped and fell from the horse’s back,

And the Barker helped me up.

I felt so stiff I could barely move,

The man said, ‘and that’s why…

We never let fellows as old as you

Take the Demon Horse for a ride!’

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Foxemerald]

What a splendiferous fashion! The way that you wrote out the Carousel ride made me feel as though I was riding upon the fury of a black horse through a black-starlit sky, filled with wonders . . . then only to emit a chuckle filled with a kind of non-sequitur as I was brought back to the kids ride. Truly enrapturing!

[Dayran]

Innocence and discovery at a tender age, when boys are in haste to become men. Too early a discovery, received in fright, chases away in adulthood what might be a man's discovery of his relations to the world. But we don't make this discovery in school but in the living, while the carousel is turning and it seldom allows for a second chance. A poem that hints at, ' if it went back, it wouldn't change a thing.'

[Amila Jay]

A great piece of writing!! Really nice.

[Sheila Marie Carr]

Nice I loved being able to invision the story as I read this poem, great work

[Chilson, Joshua]

I love everything about this poem, like the last one of yours I reviewed, both flow brilliantly. This paints a beautifully dark story, from a child's innocent curiosity at a lively carnival came the flipped coin of life from a carousel horse named midnight. Children don't have the mental state to take a disastrous future. Again, I love this poem.

[Tate Morgan]

An amazing piece to scare the bejesus out of us lol./What little kid never wanted to go where he was not allowed? I think this is great the ending is superb

[SINDE]

Impeccable flow. I like the story behind this piece as it appeals to a completely different world beyond perception. The Demon Horse On The Carousel reminds me of a lot of tales and only a gifted writer like you can be able to make one retrieve a string of memories past from a reader's mind. This here is a masterpiece sir.

[Arielle Ann]

marvelous..the beginning reminded me of the countryside, it was a reminiscence when as young boys and girls we used to enjoy circuses a lot! as for the style, everything flowed smoothly by itself, like those poems we read in textbooks...the rhymes were just perfect and at the right places..technically I don't have much idea till now about poetry, but at a glance I can say this should be flawless!