Delivering Virginia's Invitation
tap tap tap
...
tap tap tap
...
you've got your eye to the peephole, but see no one at your door
give me a break; I'm short
tap tap tap
"Who's there?" sounding maybe surlier than you meant to
this whole apartment building smells like a hospital
and your floor is the worst
tap tap tap
"Look, I'm not going to open the door until you say who you are."
perfectly reasonable... except you're assuming I can speak
an old lady comes wheezing out of the stairwell
as she passes, her eyes are glued to me
it unsettles me how beautiful they are, her eyes
a rare pale green, flecked with gold
tap tap tap
i hear your muttered curses as you work the chain to open the door
i have always had very good ears. too good. when i turned ten
and mom let me leave the trailer to go bunk in the bigtop
with the other performers
i had a hard time sleeping because of the breathing
of the dancing bear
"I'm going to open the door now." why bother saying that
you silly goose, daft old bint, just open the door already
"Oh!" is all you say when you see me
i don't mind
i'm used to wide eyes and tangled tongues
i try my winningest smile as I hold out the printed card
thank heavens you have the presence of mind to accept it
after only a moment's pause
i don't want to spend any more time than i have to
in the antiseptic fug of this god-forsaken building
YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED, reads one side of the card
as you turn it over, i wonder
whether the tremble of your hand is just old age
or whether you know already somehow
have we got plans for you!
"Dear Virginia DeMore," you read aloud,
"Your presence is most humbly requested
"At tonight's exclusive private performance
"Of Hucklethorpe's Travelling Menagerie."
you look up from the card
then down at me
standing here with my teeth hanging out
you're not shaking anymore
and the way you stand
just a little taller than a moment ago
tells me you're remembering
regaining a certain forgotten dignity
you don't know though, not yet
no, you haven't really a clue
what lies in store for you
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