In a quiet part of a raucous circus we made love the crowd knew nothing of our tryst the noise played on The elephants reared their hind legs the lions roared monkeys ran round like lunatics my baby purred like a pussy cat We howled in our ardor Time passed slowly but too quickly the din of joyful delight died in a diminished calm I looked at her beatific face she looked at me with grace I said, “Thank you, M’am.” she said, “No, thank you sir.” I replied, “I hope we meet again someday in a more gracious, way.” She said you never can tell when the hand of yes will appear again and allow the years to pile on like love was made for you and see each other grow folds under our eyes with age In the meantime, think good thoughts about this moment She turned the corner and was gone.