The Circus Tent

By Paul Klassen

Yes, I remember, it happened in  our town.
Almost everything I remember from those long years ago
happened in our town.  There was no other place to be.
No other place to go.  We were always there.  Stuck you might say.

And so the word got out.  The circus was coming to town,
And tomorrow would be the day.
But they were here already, setting up at the edge of town
In the empty field on Vance Street.

The poster in the News Office window said they would be here
And so it was.

Many boys had gathered to watch.
And there they were with big trucks
Filled with all their gear.
Strange people, animals, great and small.
Bringing new sights and smells to our small town.

And the Big Tent, the tent where everything would happen
That big tent had to be set up. 
So there came a motley crew of roustabouts
They knew how to do that job.

A half dozen of them, each armed with a sledge hammer
Formed a circle around a huge steel stake.
And then came the magic. 

With a little chant the first man raised his sledge
In a high sweeping arc and brought it down
Squarely on the stake, followed in a split second
By the next man and then the third.

And so around the circle, one loud  click  after the other,
Steel on steel.  And the stake sank with each stroke.
When the first round was completed the first man
Was again in mid swing and so it continued
Until that stake was deep into the soil.

Then on to the next and the next
Until a large circle of stakes
Enclosed a huge canvas tent
Unfurled that lay in the grassy center. 

The elephants did the rest.
Lumbering slowly and effortlessly
With huge ropes and long poles
The slowly pulled that Big Tent
Up into its proper place. 

And where, I wondered, would
All those people eat and sleep?
Right there, no doubt, on Vance street
Close to the banks of Riley Creek
At the edge of our town.

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