Topsy Remembers

THE CHAIN TO HER LEG

If we forget Topsy

Topsy remembers

when we forget her mother

gunned down in the forest

and forget who killed her

and to whom they sold

the tusks the feet the good parts

and how they died and where

and what became of their children

and what happened to the forest

Topsy remembers

when we forget how

the wires were fastened on her

for the experiment

the first time

and how she smoldered and

shuddered there

with them all watching

but did not die

when we forget

the lit cigarette

the last laugh gave her

lit end first

as though it were a peanut

the joke for which she

killed him

we will not see home again

when we forget the circus

the tickets to see her die

in the name of progress

and Edison and the electric chair

the mushroom cloud will go up

over the desert

where the West was won

the Enola Gay will take off

after the chaplain's blessing

the smoke from the Black Mesa's

power plants will be

visible from the moon

the forests will be gone

the extinctions will accelerate

the polar bears will float

farther and farther away

and off the edge of the world

that Topsy remembers…

W.S. Merwin
 

Each evening, an invisible web of artists, musicians, writers, scientists and performers gather. Some are oblivious to the presence of the others, no matter. They work at their own tasks diligently, methodically and with much love for their craft. Each awaiting the appearance of the Dancer . . . . each aware She may not appear. The Dancer will not be summoned, She moves at Her own will. Night passes, blessing the devotees of the Dancer with small successes and insights. Some retire to their beds, discouraged, while others continue, moving with the familiar rhythms of their task.