Denouement

by Sylvia Plath

The telegram says you have gone away And left our bankrupt circus on its town; There is nothing more for me to say. The maestro gives the singing birds their pay And they buy tickets for the tropic zone; The telegram says you have gone away. The clever wolly dogs have had their day They shoot the dice for one remaining bone; There is nothing more for me to say. The lion and the tigers turn to clay And Jumbo sadly trumpets into stone; The telegram says you have gone away. The morbid cobra's wits have run astray; He rents his poisons out by telegram; There is nothing more for me to say. The colored tenst all topple in the bay; The magic sawdust writes: address unknown. The telegram says you have gone away; There is nothing more for me to say.