The Marvelous Orrery
     by Don Lanigan
     2003

  
Where the tongue of the tide licks the lip of the land
The calliope waltz is in metric command
Counterpointing a triple-beat galloping gait
The monolith wheel in full gyre resonates
An interlaced matrix of timber and steel
With the structural underset slyly concealed
Cradling the river of shimmer and flash
A brazen invasion of flair and panache
A rollicking frolic where painted mounts prance
Surreal steeds in relentless advance
Rainbow hues mixed in with columns of whites
Golden leaf hi-spots the play of the lights
Broncos bespangled,  festooned and bejeweled
Splashing through nebulous blue neon pools
Spurred into scatterflight, legs all awry
Thrashing for stance in a slip-slopey sky
The carousel’s pride is its cluster of horse
And the artist transfused them with spirit and force
Shaping the hardwood with razor-edged steel
Shaving the blocks  ‘til the horse stands revealed
Novices cobble up torsos and frames
But the master’s hand renders the heads and the manes
Curly whorls fly in a virtual breeze
Frozen abstractions of motion perceived
As I mused on the scene, a thought came to mind
Of a monolith wheel of a different kind
Ablaze in the limitless firmament
Forged by spectacular cosmic event
And life is a turn on this merry orrery
A widdershins spin on the rim of infinity