Keys jangle heavy in my coat pocket
Cottonwood seeds cling to the wool fabric
Midway smells like fryer grease and rain
Sweet corn dust on the ticket chain
I sing the Carousel Vespers tonight
Under the floodlight's pale white gleam
The calliope wheezes through broken cones
A hymn for rust and splintered wooden bones
Tilt-A-Whirl leans like a tired drunk
Gears grind slow in the autumn funk
I pace the gravel where the children ran
Flashlight catches a discarded can
I sing the Carousel Vespers tonight
Under the floodlight's pale white gleam
The calliope wheezes through broken cones
A hymn for rust and splintered wooden bones
I know the counter-tenor of the wind
How it harmonizes where the pines begin
Latin responses rise up in my throat
Kyrie eleison on a final note
I sing the Carousel Vespers tonight
Under the floodlight's pale white gleam
The calliope wheezes through broken cones
A hymn for rust and splintered wooden bones
Boss arrives in a dusty white truck
Checks the padlocks, doesn't say too much
I clock out quiet, voice gone rough and low
Another season put to bed, you know
I sing the Carousel Vespers tonight
Under the floodlight's pale white gleam
The calliope wheezes through broken cones
A hymn for rust and splintered wooden bones
Just the wind in the wires now
Amen to the midway vow
