Jugglers

Susan Shea

you don’t know

what to say

when the young mother

wearing the sweater

covered in embroidered

pink smiling monkeys

climbing up blue curly ropes

tells you she is taking

her down syndrome son

to lourdes for a miracle

you can only tell yourself

this is not your circus

this is not your mass

of moveable tents

that must be put up

and taken down

one tumbling day at a time