The Machine in the Museum
I was afraid to pass the bull. Its glass eyes
followed me from the dark stall
until I arrived breathless in Kirkgate
where motheaten horses, hooves raised,
had frozen in someone's memory.
They had just passed the firestation
and would never reach the glass jars
labelled in latin, the window of fans
made of real ostrich feathers
or the sweet shop where the man
who stamped out love hearts
and put string tails in pink sugar mice
had just closed for lunch.
They wouldn't hear me put a penny in
so I could make people scream
from flaming windows and watch
the fireman carry down the baby.
Afterwards he backed away,
the doors closed and the baby
climbed a rope back to the roof
followed me from the dark stall
until I arrived breathless in Kirkgate
where motheaten horses, hooves raised,
had frozen in someone's memory.
They had just passed the firestation
and would never reach the glass jars
labelled in latin, the window of fans
made of real ostrich feathers
or the sweet shop where the man
who stamped out love hearts
and put string tails in pink sugar mice
had just closed for lunch.
They wouldn't hear me put a penny in
so I could make people scream
from flaming windows and watch
the fireman carry down the baby.
Afterwards he backed away,
the doors closed and the baby
climbed a rope back to the roof
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