One Wire (Victorian Steam-Circus Desert Opera)

ONE WIRE (STEAM-CIRCUS DESERT OPERA) [Verse 1] Under a blood-orange, clockwork sky tonight There’s one brass wire on a cracked porch light Goggles on the nail and the sand bone-dry Dust devils bow as the wagons roll by Ringmaster hat on a crooked peg Boot prints fading where the shadows beg Steam hisses softly from the well-worn rail That one wire hums a forgotten tale [Chorus] One wire Buzzing like a ghosted choir One wire Sings of soot and smoke and hire Bent and bright, with desert rust and grime Holding up the ordinary time One wire [Verse 2] (Spoken, Shakespearean) Good friends, attend: upon this humble stage A wire holds back the mischief of an age Behold its sag, its stubborn, shining thread Where dreams queue up in single file instead (Spoken, Robotic Weather) Desert forecast: copper, wind, and sand Scattered miracles across the land Stray confetti showers by the mine cart tracks Sixty percent chance of circus coming back (Spoken, Carnival Barker) Step right up, step right up, don’t be shy! See the wire that refuses to comply! Through the hail, through the heat, through the dust and years, It has hauled up half this town and their quiet little fears! [Chorus] One wire Toupee of the porch empire One wire Fence between the calm and choir Bent and bright, with every nick and stain Still the backbone of a very normal lane One wire [Bridge] Yodel, monks, in the sandstorm choir (yo-le-lay!) Whisper, pirates, of a small clothesline Barbershop saints stack a major chord On a sock that dried just in time No grand omen No mystic sign Just a strip of metal Doing its line People boast And people stray But the mail still hangs there every day [Final Chorus] (Children’s choir: a single held note) (Spoken, Shakespearean over swelling orchestra) One wire, That bears the socks, the bills, the rain‑soaked flyers (Spoken, Robotic Weather) Local bulletin: hearts remain attached Route of daily errands, fully matched (Spoken, Carnival Barker) One wire! For every lost key, every grocery bag! For the hat that flew and the coat that sagged! Through the cold and summer kitchen heat Through the thunder in the cobbled street One wire Every scratch and every scuff in sight Caught another very average night Holding birthdays, notes, and quiet desire With overblown fanfare for a clothesline wire Just one wire (Hand claps, kazoos, and distant backward bells inside the mind)