There for all the world to see

like the imprint left on the side
of a building when its neighbor
is demolished - a square patch
of floral wallpaper, plumbing fixtures

clinging dizzily. Round we go
pursued by an endless beginning-less
train of carousel horses, sculpted
nostrils flaring, eyes wide as usual.

There’s the tired tiger, the gaudy
dragon with a chipped golden ball
between his claws. It’s not what I
was led to expect. I recall
Miss Oliphant always warned us

about swimming too close to
the really big fishes, and who has not
heard the old saying about looking
too long at a yellow-eyed dog.

It's not exactly that they were
wrong, but when you’re invited
in to dinner it hardly seems helpful
to refuse simply because it’s not

the invitation you were waiting for.