The Ferris Wheel at the World’s Fair

The wheel swoops you up, swoops you down again.

The giddiest ride in the world, they swear.

When you’re high, you’re high, but where does it end?

You take your seat and then your seat ascends

And far below you: bright lights of the fair.

The wheel swoops you up, swoops you down again.

When you’re high, stars and neon blur and blend

But don’t get off, unless you walk on air.

When you’re high, you’re high, but it will end.

They look so small down there, your former friends.

Like ants or insects. Who could really care?

But the wheel that swoops up, swoops down again,

And when it does, when the big wheel descends,

You’ll step off dizzy. You’ll want someone there

When all your highest highs begin to end.

Fortune has a zero for a heart—defend

Against Her, whose wheel is noose and snare.

It swoops you up to swoop you down again.

It takes you high, but all highs have their end.