The Ferris Wheel

[Delta40]

The giant ferris wheel lights up
in the hot summer eve.
Ocean waves gently lap onto the shore
while a blazing fiery sky disappears
into darkness like the tail of Sol.
Sail boats bob in the bay,
to a warm salty breeze
whose melody could rock babies to sleep.
Lovers stroll along the esplanade,
their fingers entwined like some ancient knot.
They pay for the slow, circular ride
which stalls at the top.
You can take anyone's breath away up here
with passion, the view or childish fun.
From the top of the wheel,
the folk below seem as small as ants
so they strain to shake nearby pine tree tops
draped in gaudy christmas lights
as if all those bustling 'ants' will scurry back to their nests.
It's the little things which give us so much joy.
Together, they go round and round
in circles fondling, kissing, snuggling
their way back down to earth.

[Haunted]

Every line is so pleasurable. I feel transported. The ferris wheel is my favorite ride. This is an awesome image: fingers entwined like some ancient knot.

[DieterM]

I first didn't know what a ferris wheel could be (darn lack of vocabulary for me the non-native speaker, *sigh*, and darn Monday morning half-asleep brain) but your images are so crystal-clear that I didn't even have to bother looking it up in the dictionary... A very apeasing & romantic poem, Delta, that I liked a lot. Like Haunted, I immediately picked up the line about the entwined fingers. And I really liked that one, too "Sail boats bob in the bay, to a warm salty breeze". It's not a surprising line (you didn't invent strained images to show what you wanted to show), yet a surprisingly effective one; I can smell and taste the breeze, I can see the boats bob...

[Jerrybaldy]

Have to agree with the above... a strangely romantic poem for you Delta and a pleasure to read and the imagery placed me happily on that creaky seat going around and around.

[Delta40]

Thanks Haunted, Dieter and Jerry. It's good to know there's romance still within us all....

[symphony]

What a lovely ride, Delta. This makes me miss summer!

[AuntShecky]

Delta, yours truly is a Northeast U.S. girl through and through, but it was so
gosh darn cold today --how cold was it?-- I temporarily forgot my fondness for winter. This poem of yours reminds me that you're coming up on summer right about now!

I like the pattern your lines make--it really suggests an outline of an actual
Ferris wheel. I think you suggest its motion very well also. There's a famous French poem about a carousel, but I can't remember if it was Mallarmé or who.


This piece is vividly descriptive, and I only have one teeny criticism and that's to choose a different image than the simile about people looking like
ants. It reminds me of the old, old joke about a couple looking out the window of an airplane.
WIFE: Look at the people down there. They look like ants!
HUSBAND: They ARE ants. We haven't taken off yet.

Other than that, yours is a brightly realized observation.

Good to see you posting again.

[Delta40]

Thanks Aunty. Summer isn't so hot (thank gosh!) atm. You're probably right about the ants. I was thinking more about The Third Man but even they referred to the people as dots...

[cafolini]

Far more than romantic to me. I knew you were coming back with more. Loved it.

[Delta40]

Thanks Cafolini.