A flurry of lights,

Swinging luxuriously,

Carts tossing curious eyes and starving hands up,

For a glimpse at those terrifying stars.

Bitter wind shrieks and cools sweat,

Blushing creamy cheeks,

and pinching noses.

The twisting heat of screaming children,

And of hard-packed earth,

Sending up swirls of dust as feet skid and popcorn,

Soaked in butter,

Spills and cakes in it.

Thick, cotton clouds shove against the moon,

veiling it so that when it is revealed,

It shines among loud blue-raspberry lights,

and illuminates apples dripping in hot caramel:

Thick sugar-sweet goops,

lofting a hefty weight of chocolate and sprinkles.

Stained ribbons dangling from poles like loose stitches,

As red as those mysterious, eternal eyes,

that watch from the windows of the haunted house.

Love and hate and havoc slop through this mess,

––Of hands clutched dearly,

Of delighted and horrified screams,

Of the creak of tracks and the rotten-plastic smell of old steel,

And all the memories that lay buried beneath.