Saltimbanque

Who’s this leaning on a column
carrying a walking ball so lightly?
What can she see up there?
Trapeze artists or spiders?
How long has she watched
that couple watching television?


She remembers another place
with clowns, jugglers, Picasso:
“la famille de saltimbanques”.
Now there’s this one room:
it’s not exactly a circus;
it’s a long and dusty shelf,
a collection of days and years.
But she’s always glad to see
this immense bright world: still here.