The tension between us-

Slowly driving me mad

And more than anything in the whole wide world right now

I want you.

A sideways glance

Our gazes catch-

We each look away.

We walk shoulder to shoulder

Our hands looking so lonely,

Waiting side by side.

There is something in your eyes

That gives me hope-

Maybe now…

All her miserably fine attire

Layered

One

On

Top of the other,

swamping her silhouette.

All the jewelry she’d ever own

Bogged down her body

The most elaborately dressed woman in the world

…the most desolate.

Locked inside her caravan

Brooding in solitude

Loneliness.

Outside wind whips past

tossing circus flyers about

“You won’t believe your eyes!” “The best acrobatic trick in the world!” “The Juggling Jalapenos- Spanish fire jugglers!” “Come see the sideshow- the Caveman, the bearded lady, the nine-foot-tall man!”

“Come see the Gypsy Queen!”

Old weathered hands

Freckled and scarred with tales of the past

laden with the heavy burden of gaudy rings

lay locked pleadingly in her lap

This weathered gypsy queen-

Not even free to reign over herself.