i knelt down and talked
to the old turtle, trying
to get out of its box...
in a low voice telling him,
there'd come a time,
there'd come a time!
you smell good!
we pass like familiar strangers
who've forgotten the words
to the song...

and the roar and the din
of the circus and its clowns
drowns out the silence!
i turn, and take you with
a glance, a thought, an inadvertent
touch...

the cash register rings again!
and all is lost...
carried out in a buggy
to a borrowed car!

Eric Cockrell

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-time-9/