Dancing ghosts

Dancing ghosts

Wizard- trapped
In a tar box

Aimed at the sun

Then gilded

Relieved the miner's

Loneliness

Stuck then

In bottomless cups

Those nickel parlors

Newly made

For leisure

Never failed

To entertain

A distance

Over and over

Strove the blackened face

His tipple- head creaking

Shafts of daylight

Burnt into dreams

This dance of veils

Was hand- colored

Wavering 

In its charm

When the light

Became made by

Industry known

To poison wells

The miner's pail

Claimed a trophy

Released from inside

A flickering womb















Tom McGlynn
copyright 2014